Interparental agreement on child behavior problems.

Abstract

Interparental agreement on child behavior problems was studied by having parents in 137 families complete the Child Behavior Checklist for their children age 3-13. Interparental agreement on specific behavior problems was low. Mothers consistently reported more problem behavior than fathers, but parents did not show different levels of agreement for boys and girls. Discrepancies between parental reports of problem behavior, but not kappa scores, increased as the distress level of the family increased. Child Behavior Checklist items rated high for objectivity, observability, molecularity, disturbance, and social undesirability generally obtained higher levels of parental agreement than items rated low for these qualities. Some evidence indicated that items on the externalizing scale of the checklist achieve higher agreement and are more objective, observable, and socially undesirable than items on the internalizing scale.

The Youth Self Report: Applicability and Validity Across Younger and Older Youths

“…The older youths evidenced significant parent-child correlations on both internalizing and externalizing scales, although primarily among the externalizing scales. These results are consistent with previous findings that parent-child agreement is worse among younger youth (Grills et al, 2003) and is greater for externalizing problems (e.g., Christensen et al, 1992). It is worth noting however that the low reliability associated with the younger youths' reports likely attenuated their parent-child agreement correlation coefficients relative to the older youths.…”

Retrospective reports of college students' childhood problems

“…Again, these findings contrast with those presented in the literature for children, mothers, and fathers reporting on children's emotional and behavioral problems prospectively. In these cases, mothers tended to endorse higher levels of emotional and behavioral functioning than did children or fathers (e.g., Christensen, Margolin, & Sullaway, 1992). These findings are consistent, however, with those of Henry and colleagues (1994) and Yarrow and colleagues (1970), which stated that absolute levels of agreement may be poor retrospectively.…”

Inter-parent agreement on four preschool behavior rating scales: Effects of parent and child gender

“…The findings of past studies have been equivocal with some researchers reporting low levels of inter-parent agreement (Christensen, Margolin, & Sullaway, 1992;Deal, Halverson, & Wampler, 1989;Earls, 1980) and others reporting moderate parental agreement (Lindholm & Touliatos, 1982;Miller, 1964;Novick, Resenfeld, Bloch, & Dawson, 1966). Achenbach et al (1987) and Christensen et al (1992) concluded that low correlations between parents' ratings may be a function of the differing relationships some parents share with their children as opposed to invalid or unreliable parent ratings. Researchers who have reported moderate levels of parental agreement suggest that parents' frequent opportunities to discuss their children's behaviors (Miller, 1964) and parents' interactions with their children in similar contexts (Novick et al, 1966) provide the basis for shared experiences and hence shared perceptions and ratings.…”