Indiana Social Studies P.6.2
The Standard
Explain how both cultural and historical influences have affected the definition of maladaptive behavior, including the harmful effects of diagnostic labeling and the social stigmas attached to them.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why behavior judged disordered in one time or culture may be understood differently in another. They describe how diagnostic labels can help people get care but can also lead to shame, stereotypes, or unfair treatment.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain why homosexuality was once classified as a disorder and why that classification changed. They can explain why loud mourning needs cultural context before anyone calls it a symptom, then name a harm an unfair label could cause.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may mistake unfamiliar grief customs for symptoms. They may think diagnostic categories never change. They may also assume a diagnosis predicts someone's abilities or behavior.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A teen cries loudly at a funeral, and someone calls it disordered. Explain what cultural detail you would ask about, give one historical example of a changed diagnosis, and name one harm of the label.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups four cards: the 1952 listing of homosexuality, its 1973 removal, quiet mourning, and loud mourning; sort by historical change or cultural context.
Write two sentences: How can a diagnostic label help someone get care, and how might others misuse it to exclude them?
Play a matching game: pair behaviors like public crying with context cards, then explain why the first impression could be wrong.
On a mock job application, cross out 'Have you ever had a mental health diagnosis?' and write how the question could lead to bias.
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Printable P.6.2 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- P.6.4
Discuss major categories of maladaptive behavior and distinguish which disorders (mood, anxiety, obsessive compulsive, schizophrenia, depressive, sleep) classif...
- S.10.7
Identify the consequences of the medicalization of deviance.
- P.6.1
Describe the characteristics defining maladaptive behavior and its diagnostic criteria (deviant, distressful, dysfunctional).
- P.6.3
Identify and describe the theories of maladaptive behaviors.
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