Comparing adolescent and parent reports of externalizing problems: A longitudinal population‐based study

Abstract

Adolescent and parent reports of adolescent mental health problems often correlate poorly, and understanding this discrepancy has clinical importance. Yet contextual factors have only been inconsistently explained. At the 14-and 17-year follow-ups of the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study, 1,596 parent-child dyads completed the parent-reported Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the adolescent-rated Youth Self-Report (YSR). Maternal, family, adolescent, and parent factors were examined as potential predictors of discrepancies. When adolescent YSR scores were in the clinical range but parents' CBCL ratings were not, adolescents were more likely to report alcohol intoxication in the last 6 months, illicit drug use, low school motivation, and depression. When parents reported externalizing behaviour in the clinical range but adolescents did not, the characteristics associated with this were a younger maternal age, receiving social security benefit, stress related to parenting, depression, and poor family functioning. These new results will inform clinical management and research with adolescents who present with behavioural disorders. Statement of contributionWhat is already known on this subject?We know that adolescent and parent reports of adolescent mental health problems often correlate poorly, but little is known about which contextual factors lead to disagreement.

‘Too many BeEPs in our teens!’ Behavioral and emotional problems in a large group of Italian adolescents

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the prevalence of mental health problems in a general population sample aged 14-18 in Italy. Compared to previous international research that reports a prevalence of clinical Total Problems between 11% and 27% (Philipp et al, 2018;Robinson et al, 2018), our findings provide evidence of a higher prevalence of mental health problems in adolescence, with, in particular, a high prevalence of Internalizing Problems. The only previous Italian report is the PrISMA study, reporting a prevalence of 9.8% of mental disorders assessed with the child behavior checklist (CBCL/6-18) on 3418 pre-adolescents (10-14 years old) (Frigerio et al, 2009).…”

“…Verhulst and colleagues (Verhulst, Prince, Vervuurt-Poot, & de Jong, 1989) found a small age effect on Total Problem score with girls scoring higher with increasing age. In an Australian sample ( N = 1754), the prevalence of clinical Total Problem raised between age 14 and 17 from 11.7% in boys and 13.0% in girls to 13.0% and 19.3%, respectively (Robinson et al, 2018). Achenbach et al (1987), Fitzpatrick & Deehan (1999) and Verhulst et al (1989) found no age effect on Total problems.…”

Longitudinal relations between parenting stress and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors: Testing within-person changes, bidirectionality and mediating mechanisms

“…A crossover effect might also result in a compensation effect, such that parental reports on own scores are reduced by the views or experiences of the secondary caregiver. Thus, future studies may investigate parenting and child outcomes from a more family systems perspective by including other family members, including other children in the household (Richmond et al, 2005;Robinson et al, 2019), as well. A final limitation to mention is that we were unable to investigate full bidirectionality from age 9 months to 9 years, due to missing information about child behavior when the child was 9 months old.…”

Problemas emocionais e comportamentais em adolescentes

“…Em uma pesquisa com adolescentes espanhóis observou-se associação clara entre PI (passividade, apatia, depressão, entre outras manifestações) e um estilo parental autoritário. (Robinson et al, 2019). Chen et al (2017), em pesquisa realizada sobre discrepâncias entre relatos de pais e filhos sobre PEC de adolescentes, em Taiwan, encontraram concordância moderada em uma amostra de 1.412 pares de pais e adolescentes, chegando a refutar a hipótese de que sociedades com fortes tradições de familismo e coletivismo teriam maior concordância entre pais e filhos, sendo o termo familismo utilizado para designar uma ideologia do oriente que prioriza a família.…”

“…Tambémforam relatados níveis inadequados de afeto, com predomínio de agressão e rejeição, associada à expressão de PE (agressividade, hostilidade e delinqüência). Neste estudo espanhol também foi sugerido que carinho insuficiente recebido da mãe combinado com rejeição pelo pai esteve associado a maior probabilidade do filho desempenhar papel de agressor no ambiente escolar(Ortuño-Sierra et al, 2017).Um importante estudo longitudinal realizado na Austrália porRobinson et al (2019), sobre os relatos de adolescentes e pais sobre saúde mental de adolescentes, observou-se baixa correlação e o entendimento desta discrepância tem importância clínica. Em acompanhamentos de 14 e 17 anos do Estudo da Coorte de Gravidez da Austrália Ocidental, 1.596 díades de pais e filhos completaram o CBCL relatada pelos pais e o YSR pelos jovens.…”