Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
Published in: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Research Article

Does parent–child agreement vary based on presenting problems? Results from a UK clinical sample

Authors: Kalia Cleridou, Praveetha Patalay, Peter Martin

Published in: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health | Issue 1/2017

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Discrepancies are often found between child and parent reports of child psychopathology, nevertheless the role of the child’s presenting difficulties in relation to these is underexplored. This study investigates whether parent–child agreement on the conduct and emotional scales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) varied as a result of certain child characteristics, including the child’s presenting problems to clinical services, age and gender.

Methods

The UK-based sample consisted of 16,754 clinical records of children aged 11–17, the majority of which were female (57%) and White (76%). The dataset was provided by the Child Outcomes Research Consortium , which collects outcome measures from child services across the UK. Clinicians reported the child’s presenting difficulties, and parents and children completed the SDQ.

Results

Using correlation analysis, the main findings indicated that agreement varied as a result of the child’s difficulties for reports of conduct problems, and this seemed to be related to the presence or absence of externalising difficulties in the child’s presentation. This was not the case for reports of emotional difficulties. In addition, agreement was higher when reporting problems not consistent with the child’s presentation; for instance, agreement on conduct problems was greater for children presenting with internalising problems. Lastly, the children’s age and gender did not seem to have an impact on agreement.

Conclusions

These findings demonstrate that certain child presenting difficulties, and in particular conduct problems, may be related to informant agreement and need to be considered in clinical practice and research.
Trial Registration This study was observational and as such did not require trial registration
Footnotes
1
Concordance correlation coefficients (CCC) [61] and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between parents and children were also conducted as sensitivity analyses on both the conduct and emotional SDQ scales, to test whether these would be different to the Pearson correlations (PC). The results indicated that there was very little difference between the three (max. difference was .03), thus the use of PC was justified, as the results would not substantially change if CCC or ICC were used.
 
Literature
1.
Renk K. Cross-informant ratings of the behavior of children and adolescents: the “gold standard”. J Child Fam Stud. 2005;14:457–68.CrossRef
2.
Wolpert M, Deighton J, De Francesco D, Martin P, Fonagy P, Ford T. From, “reckless” to “mindful” in the use of outcome data to inform service-level performance management: perspectives from child mental health. BMJ Qual Saf. 2014;23:272–6.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
3.
Achenbach TM, McConaughy SH, Howell CT. Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychol Bull. 1987;101:213–32.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Sourander A, Helstela L, Helenius H. Parent-adolescent agreement on emotional and behavioral problems. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1999;34:657–63.CrossRefPubMed
5.
De Los Reyes A, Kazdin AE. Informant discrepancies in the assessment of childhood psychopathology: a critical review, theoretical framework, and recommendations for further study. Psychol Bull. 2005;131:483–509.CrossRef
6.
Goodman R, Meltzer H, Bailey V. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a pilot study on the validity of the self-report version. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1998;7:125–30.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Hawley KM, Weisz JR. Child, parent, and therapist (dis)agreement on target problems in outpatient therapy: the therapist’s dilemma and its implications. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2003;71:62–70.CrossRefPubMed
8.
De Los Reyes A, Youngstrom EA, Swan AJ, Youngstrom JK, Feeny NC, Findling RL. Informant discrepancies in clinical reports of youths and interviewers’ impressions of the reliability of informants. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2011;21:417–24.CrossRef
9.
De Los Reyes A, Kazdin AE. Measuring informant discrepancies in clinical child research. Psychol Assess. 2004;16:330–4.CrossRef
10.
Kramer T, Phillips SD, Hargis MB, Miller TL, Burns BJ, Robbins JM. Disagreement between parent and adolescent reports of functional impairment. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip. 2004;45:248–59.CrossRef
11.
Rubio-Stipec M, Fitzmaurice G, Murphy J, Walker A. The use of multiple informants in identifying the risk factors of depressive and disruptive disorders—are they interchangeable? Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2003;38:51–8.CrossRefPubMed
12.
13.
De Los Reyes A. Strategic objectives for improving understanding of informant discrepancies in developmental psychopathology research. Dev Psychopathol. 2013;25:669–82.CrossRef
14.
De Los Reyes A, Aldao A, Thomas SA, Daruwala S, Swan AJ, Van Wie M, Goepel K, Lechner WV. Adolescent self-reports of social anxiety: can they disagree with objective psychophysiological measures and still be valid? J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2012;34:308–22.CrossRef
15.
Weisz JR, Doss AJ, Hawley KM. Youth psychotherapy outcome research: a review and critique of the evidence base. Annu Rev Psychol. 2005;56:337–63.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Van Der Meer M, Dixon A, Rose D. Parent and child agreement on reports of problem behaviour obtained from a screening questionnaire, the SDQ. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2008;17:491–7.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Smith SR. Making sense of multiple informants in child and adolescent psychopathology a guide for clinicians. J Psychoeduc Assess. 2007;25:139–49.CrossRef
18.
McLean KC, Pasupathi M, Pals JL. Selves creating stories creating selves: a process model of self-development. Personal Soc Psychol Rev. 2007;11:262–78.CrossRef
19.
Herjanic B, Reich W. Development of a structured psychiatric interview for children: agreement between child and parent on individual symptoms. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 1997;25:21–31.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Cairns RB, Cairns BD. Predicting aggressive patterns in girls and boys: a developmental study. Aggress Behav. 1984;10:227–42.
21.
Kazdin AE. Conduct Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Inc.; 1995.CrossRef
22.
Oland AA, Shaw DS. Pure versus co-occurring externalizing and internalizing symptoms in children: the potential role of socio-developmental milestones. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2005;8:247–70.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Hughes JN, Cavell TA, Grossman PB. A positive view of self: risk or protection for aggressive children? Dev Psychopathol. 1997;9:75–94.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Owens JS, Hoza B. The role of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in the positive illusory bias. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2003;71:680–91.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Diener MB, Milich R. Effects of positive feedback on the social interactions of boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a test of the self-protective hypothesis. J Clin Child Psychol. 1997;26:37–41.CrossRef
26.
Edelbrock C, Costello AJ, Dulcan MK, Kalas R, Conover NC. Age differences in the reliability of the psychiatric interview of the child. Child Dev. 1985;56:265–75.CrossRefPubMed
27.
Flanery RC. Methodological and psychometric considerations in child reports. In: La Greca AM, editor. Through the eyes of the child: obtaining self-reports from children and adolescents. Boston: Allyn and Bacon; 1990. p. 57–82.
28.
Angold A, Weissman MM, John K, Merikangas KR, Prusoff BA, Wickramaratne P, Gammon GD, Warner V. Parent and child reports of depressive symptoms in children at low and high risk of depression. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1987;28:901–16.CrossRefPubMed
29.
Beck AT. Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. New York: International Universities Press; 1976.
30.
Weersing VR, Brent DA. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for adolescent depression: Comparative efficacy, mediation, moderation, and effectiveness. In: Kazdin AE, Weisz DA, editors. Evidence-based psychotherapies for children and adolescents. New York: Guilford Press; 2003. p. 135–47.
31.
Carr AJ. The Handbook of Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology: a contextual approach. London: Routledge; 2006.
32.
Alloy LB, Abramson LY. Depressive realism: four theoretical perspectives. In: Alloy LB, editor. Cognitive processes in depression. New York: Guildford Press; 1988. p. 223–65.
33.
Baumeister RF, Tice DM. Anxiety and social exclusion. J Soc Clin Psychol. 1990;9:165–95.CrossRef
34.
Weinstein ND. Unrealistic optimism about future life events. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1980;39:806–20.CrossRef
35.
Hoza B, Murray-Close D, Arnold LE, Hinshaw SP, Hechtman L. Time-dependent changes in positively biased self-perceptions of children with ADHD: a developmental psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol. 2010;22:375–90.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
36.
Verhulst FC, van der Ende J. Agreement between parents’ reports and adolescents’ self-reports of problem behavior. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1992;33:1011–23.CrossRefPubMed
37.
Choudhury MS, Pimentel SS, Kendall PC. Childhood anxiety disorders: parent-child (dis)agreement using a structured interview for the DSM-IV. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2003;42:957–64.CrossRefPubMed
38.
Grills AE, Ollendick TH. Multiple informant agreement and the anxiety disorders interview schedule for parents and children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2003;42:30–40.CrossRefPubMed
39.
Goodman R. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a research note. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1997;38:581–6.CrossRefPubMed
40.
41.
Law D, Wolpert M. Guide to using outcomes and feedback tools with children, young people and families. 2nd ed. UK: CORC Ltd; 2014.
42.
Goodman R, Scott S. Comparing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and Child Behavior Checklist: is small beautiful? J Abnorm Psychol. 1999;27:17–24.CrossRef
43.
Hawes DJ, Dadds MR. Australian data and psychometric properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2004;38:644–51.CrossRefPubMed
44.
Paul S. Test for the equality of several correlation coefficients. Can J Stat La Rev Can Stat. 1989;17:217–27.CrossRef
45.
Kanji K. Z-test for two correlation coefficients. In: Kanji K, editor. 100 statistical tests. 3rd ed. London: Sage Publications, Ltd.; 2006. p. 42–3.CrossRef
46.
Steiger JH. Tests for comparing elements of a correlation matrix. Psychol Bull. 1980;87:245–51.CrossRef
47.
Streiner DL, Norman GR. Correction for multiple testing: is there a resolution? Chest. 2011;140:16–8.CrossRefPubMed
48.
Armstrong RA. When to use the Bonferroni correction. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt J Br Coll Ophthalmic Opt. 2014;34:502–8.CrossRef
49.
Lahey BB, Applegate B, Waldman ID, Loft JD, Hankin BL, Rick J. The structure of child and adolescent psychopathology: generating new hypotheses. J Abnorm Psychol. 2004;113:358–85.CrossRefPubMed
50.
Najman JM, Williams GM, Nikles J, Spence S, Callaghan MO, Brocque RLE, Andersen MJ, Shuttlewood J. Bias influencing maternal reports of child behaviour and emotional state. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2001;36:186–94.CrossRefPubMed
51.
Offord DR, Boyle MH, Racine Y. Ontario child health study: correlates of disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1989;28:856–60.CrossRefPubMed
52.
Tarullo LB, Richardson DT, Radke-Yarrow M, Martinez PE. Multiple sources in child diagnosis: parent–child concordance in affectively ill and well families. J Clin Child Psychol. 1995;24:173–83.CrossRef
53.
Kolko DJ, Kazdin AE. Emotional/behavioral problems in clinic and nonclinic children: correspondence among child, parent and teacher reports. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1993;34:991–1006.CrossRefPubMed
54.
55.
Kim NS, Ahn W. Clinical psychologists’ theory-based representations of mental disorders predict their diagnostic reasoning and memory. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2002;131:451–76.CrossRefPubMed
56.
57.
58.
Kraemer HC, Measelle JR, Ablow JC, Essex MJ, Boyce WT, Kupfer DJ. A new approach to integrating data from multiple informants in psychiatric assessment and research: mixing and matching contexts and perspectives. Am J Psychiatry. 2003;160:1566–77.CrossRefPubMed
59.
Rescorla LA, Ginzburg S, Achenbach TM, Ivanova MY, Almqvist F, Begovac I, Bilenberg N, Bird H, Chahed M, Dobrean A, Döpfner M, Erol N, Hannesdottir H, Kanbayashi Y, Lambert MC, Leung PWL, Minaei A, Novik TS, Oh K-J, Petot D, Petot J-M, Pomalima R, Rudan V, Sawyer M, Simsek Z, Steinhausen H-C, Valverde J, van der Ende J, Weintraub S, Metzke CW, et al. Cross-Informant agreement between parent-reported and adolescent self-reported problems in 25 societies. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2013;42:262–73.CrossRefPubMed
60.
De Los Reyes A, Thomas SA, Goodman KL, Kundey SMA. Principles underlying the use of multiple informants’ reports. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2013;9:123–49.CrossRef
61.
Lin LIK. A concordance correlation coefficient to evaluate reproducibility. Biometrics. 1989;45:255–68.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Does parent–child agreement vary based on presenting problems? Results from a UK clinical sample
Authors
Kalia Cleridou
Praveetha Patalay
Peter Martin
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1753-2000
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-017-0159-2

Other articles of this Issue 1/2017

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 1/2017 Go to the issue

Research Article

Photo-elicitation with adolescents in qualitative research: an example of its use in exploring family interactions in adolescent psychiatry

Research Article

Effectiveness of the BOOST-A™ online transition planning program for adolescents on the autism spectrum: a quasi-randomized controlled trial

Research article

Prevalence of depressive symptoms among schoolchildren in Cyprus: a cross-sectional descriptive correlational study

Research article

Prevalence and correlates of ADHD among adolescents in a Beirut community sample: results from the BEI-PSY Study

Research Article

Predictors of adolescents’ mental health problems in Saudi Arabia: findings from the Jeeluna® national study

Research article

Risk and protective factors for mental health problems in preschool-aged children: cross-sectional results of the BELLA preschool study