Parent and Teacher Agreement on Child Behavior Checklist Items in a Sample of Preschoolers From Low-Income and Predominantly African American Families

Abstract

In this study we examined parent and teacher agreement at the item level of the newly revised Child Behavior Checklist/1 1/2-5 (CBCL/1 1/2-5) and Caregiver-Teacher Report Form/1 1/2-5 (CTRF/1 1/2-5) in 505 preschool children from low-income and predominantly African American families. Parents generally rated more children as having problem behaviors than did teachers. Lack of agreement between parents and teachers at the item level was indicated by low correlation coefficients, kappa values, and co-identification of children with specific behavior problems. High levels of parent-teacher agreement were obtained only when rank orders of problem behaviors were compared. No significant sex effect was found on parent and teacher agreement at the item level. Problem behaviors most often indicated by parents and teachers reflected the roles and responsibilities of parents and teachers in the home and school settings. Our findings suggest informant and setting specificity of parent- and teacher-identified problem behaviors in young children.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder—Gender Differences in Co-occurring Symptoms of Mental Health Problems in a General Population of Children

“…Assessment of mental health problems in children commonly relies on information provided by multiple informants such as parents and teachers. However, the consistency in multiple-source information is at best moderate (Achenbach et al 1987;Cai et al 2004). As a consequence, the estimated prevalence of ODD/CD varies between 1.6% and 10.2% in community samples (Munkvold et al 2009;Offord et al 1996), and between 9.7% and 23% in clinical samples (MacLeod et al 1999).…”

Comparing the psychometric properties of multiple teacher report instruments as predictors of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents

“…For example, teachers might see behaviors at school that parents do not see at home, or vice versa. A second reason often cited for informant discrepancies is that informants may have different characteristics and abilities that affect their ability to accurately describe the behaviors they see in children (Cai, Kaiser, Hancock, & Kaiser, 2004;De Los Reyes & Kazdin, 2005;Grietens et al, 2004;Randazzo, Landsverk, & Ganger, 2003;Wagner, Findling, Emslie, Gracious, & Reed, 2006). Finally, there has been a question of whether different types of informants interpret child behavior checklist items in different ways.…”

Parent-Teacher Concordance in Rating Preschooler Difficulties in Behavioural and Cognitive Functioning and Their Dyadic Predicting of Fluid Intelligence

“…Teacher-parent concordance was estimated in reference to questionnaire subscales (Grietens et al, 2004) but also in reference to specific items (Cai, Kaiser & Hancock, 2004). In both types of studies, teacher-parent agreement was low to moderate (Achenbach, McConaughy & Howell, 1987;Duhig, Renk, Epstein & Phares, 2000;Grietens et al, 2004;Mitsis, McKay, Schulz, Newcom & Halperin, 2000;Narad et al, 2015;Spiker, Kraemer, Constantine & Bryant, 1992;Stanger & Lewis, 1993).…”

“…Factors influencing discrepancies were also analysed, e.g., gender (BriggsGowan, Carter, & Schwab-Stone, 1996;Touliatos & Lindholm, 1981;Verhulst & Akkerhuis, 1989), age (Narad et al, 2015;Verhulst & Akkerhuis, 1989), mental health (Chilcoat & Breslau, 1997;Egeland, Kalkoske, Gottesman & Erickson, 1990;Epkins, 1996;Kolko & Kazdin, 1993;Narad et al, 2015;Querido, Eyberg & Boggs, 2001;Richters, 1992;Sointu, Savolainen, Lappalainen, & Epstein, 2012;Treutler & Epkins;2003Youngstrom, Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 2000, and socioeconomic status (Cai et al, 2004).…”