Informant Variance: The Issue of Parent-Child Disagreement

Kashani, Javad H.; Orvaschel, Helen; Burk, Jeffrey P.; Reid, John C.

doi:10.1016/s0002-7138(09)60561-6

Cited by 193 publications

(105 citation statements)

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“…However, studies in child psychology that compared parent and child reports obtained separately have found low to moderate agreement between child and parent in reports of relationships at home, at school and with peers, somatic symptoms, psychiatric problems and school performance (Herjanic, Herjanic, Brown & Wheatt, 1975;Herjanic & Reich, 1997), ratings of incidence, severity and duration of depression (Kashani, Orvaschel, Burk & Reid, 1985;Kazdin, French, Unis & Esveldt-Dawson, 1983) and psychotic symptoms and affective disturbances (Edelbrock, Costello, Dulcan, Conover & Kala, 1986). In general, these researchers found good agreement between child and parent for items that were concrete, observable and unambiguous, with poor agreement on items where a judgment was required.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A qualitative analysis of a dyad approach to health-related quality of life measurement in children with asthma

Ungar

Mirabelli

Cousins

et al. 2006

Social Science & Medicine

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The measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children often relies on parents as proxy respondents. Yet, several studies have shown poor to moderate correlations between parent and child responses, questioning the validity of the parent as proxy. This qualitative study examined a dyad approach, where parent and child were interviewed together. The objective was to observe and describe the interaction in a dyad interview, wherein both parent and child perspectives are used and where the parent may expand the child's cognitive abilities to create a more meaningful description of the child's HRQOL. Children aged 8-15 years with a clinical diagnosis of asthma and their primary caregivers were recruited from The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. The dyads were administered the Health Utilities Index Mark II/III, the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire and the PedsQL ™ Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Interviews were audio-taped and a second researcher recorded observations. Consistent with Grounded Theory methodology, observations were indexed according to categories and subcategories related to the response process. Data were analysed using open, axial and selective coding and constant comparison. Saturation was achieved at 16 dyad interviews. A cultural review and reflexive role taking were included to minimize interviewer bias and enhance rigour. Findings were grouped in the following 11 themes: recall difficulty, respondent bias, interviewer bias, frustration, coercion/parental influence, inter-relational conflict, psychic discomfort for health states, emotional sensitivity, parent as advocate, parent as enabler and comprehension. The specification of these categories facilitated the creation of an interview guide to accompany the administration of standardized HRQOL questionnaires to parent-child dyads. Such a guide would facilitate discussion between parent and child and enhance the consistency of the interview process.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A qualitative analysis of a dyad approach to health-related quality of life measurement in children with asthma

Ungar

Mirabelli

Cousins

et al. 2006

Social Science & Medicine

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“…Table 1 identifies which diagnostic modules were administered to each informant, depending on the child's age (i.e., 9-10 vs. 11-18 years). These decisions were based on previous literature indicating that, (a) youth younger than 11 years may have especially low reliability in diagnostic reporting; and (b) youth are generally the most comprehensive reporters of internalizing (mood and anxiety) symptoms [29][30][31][32] whereas parents are good reporters of disruptive behavior symptoms [29,[31][32][33]. Procedures used were based on the most practical and rigorous approach given the population, the ages of the youth involved, and guidelines for use of the diagnostic measure.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association Between Mental and Physical Health Problems in High-Risk Adolescents: A Longitudinal Study

Aarons

Monn

Leslie

et al. 2008

Journal of Adolescent Health

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Purpose-This longitudinal study examined the relationship between mental and physical health problems in a sample of high-risk youth served in the public sector.Methods-Participants included youth ages 9 to 18 at baseline, randomly sampled from one of five public service sectors in San Diego County, California and youths may have been active to more than one sector. Diagnoses for mood, anxiety, and disruptive disorders based on structured diagnostic interviews were determined at baseline and data regarding health-related problems were collected two years post-baseline.Results-Mood and disruptive behavior disorders were related to cumulative health problem incidence, as well as aggregate measures of health problems and severe health problems. Additionally, mood disorder diagnosis was associated with higher rates of infectious diseases, respiratory problems, and weight problems. Disruptive disorder diagnosis was related to higher rates of risk-behavior related health problems.Conclusions-The present work extends the research on the relationship between mental and physical health problems to adolescents served in the public sector, who are at especially high risk for behavioral and emotional problems. Potential mechanisms by which mental health problems may impact health problems are discussed. We suggest the development of effective interagency cooperation between medical and mental health systems in order to improve the care of youth with comorbid mental and physical disorders.There is increasing concern and attention to the relation of mental health disorders and physical health problems as evidenced by published studies and by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) support for research addressing this issue. Adults with mental illness are at higher risk for physical health problems than those without mental illness [1][2][3], but less is known about Correspondence to: Gregory A. Aarons, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, Child & Adolescent Services Research Center, 3020 Children's Way, MC-5033, San Diego, CA 92123-4282, Tel: 858.966.7703 ext. 3550, Fax: 858.966.7704, gaarons@ucsd.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. [4,6,9,10], oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) [4,11,12]. However, studies of adolescents tend to be either crosssectional or conducted in clinical samples focused only on one type of disorder. NIH Public AccessMental illness may have a direct or indirect impact on physical health. For instance, mental disorders, such as depression, may directly lead to physical...

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“…For instance, low-to-moderate levels of informant agreement have generally been found on informants' ratings of child anxiety (Choudhury et al, 2003;Comer & Kendall, 2004;Edelbrock et al, 1986;Engel et al, 1994;Foley et al, 2004;Frick et al, 1994;Grills & Ollendick, 2003;Krain & Kendall, 2000;Rapee et al, 1994;Verhulst et al, 1987;Wachtel et al, 1994;Weissman et al, 1987). In addition, although the findings of some of these studies have been moderated by child and family characteristics (e.g., child age, child ethnicity, child gender, children's social desirability, family conflict, maternal anxiety; Edelbrock et al, 1986;Grills & Ollendick, 2003;Rapee et al, 1994;Wachtel et al, 1994), nevertheless, levels of informant agreement generally remain in the low-to-moderate range.With regard to informants' ratings of child depression, prior work has generally revealed low-to-moderate levels of informant agreement (Angold et al, 1987;Braaten et al, 2001;Edelbrock et al, 1986;Garber, Van Slyke, & Walker, 1998;Ines & Sacco, 1992;Ivens & Rehm, 1988;Kashani, Orvaschel, Burk, & Reid, 1985;Reich, Herjanic, Welner, & Gandhy, 1982;Verhulst et al, 1987;Weissman et al, 1987;Williams, McGee, Anderson, & Silva, 1989). However, some of these studies examined informant agreement on individual symptoms and found moderate-to-high levels of agreement on individual symptoms regarding suicidal ideation (e.g., Angold et al, 1987;Ivens & Rehm, 1988).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Some of these studies examined informant agreement with regard to individual symptoms as well and found moderate-to-high levels of agreement on some individual symptoms (e.g., police contacts, school suspensions, stealing; Kashani et al, 1985;Loeber et al, 1989). Findings of some of these studies have been moderated by child and family characteristics (e.g., child age and gender; Edelbrock et al, 1986;Weissman et al, 1987), although, again, informant agreement generally remains in the low-to-moderate range despite the influence of these informant characteristics on levels of agreement.With regard to informants' ratings of childhood hyperactivity/ inattention, prior work has generally revealed low-to-moderate levels of informant agreement (Edelbrock et al, 1986;Grills & Ollendick, 2003;Jensen et al, 1999;Kashani et al, 1985;Loeber et al, 1989;MacLeod et al, 1999;Verhulst et al, 1987;Weissman et al, 1987;Williams et al, 1989). One of these studies examined informant agreement with regard to individual symptoms and found moderate-to-high levels of parent-teacher agreement on individual symptoms regarding schoolwork (Loeber et al, 1989).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Informant Discrepancies in the Assessment of Childhood Psychopathology: A Critical Review, Theoretical Framework, and Recommendations for Further Study.

Reyes¹,

Kazdin²

2005

Psychological Bulletin

2,014

142

1,749

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Discrepancies often exist among different informants' (e.g., parents, children, teachers) ratings of child psychopathology. Informant discrepancies have an impact on the assessment, classification, and treatment of childhood psychopathology. Empirical work has identified informant characteristics that may influence informant discrepancies. Limitations of previous work include inconsistent measurement of informant discrepancies and, perhaps most importantly, the absence of a theoretical framework to guide research. In this article, the authors present a theoretical framework (the Attribution Bias Context Model) to guide research and theory examining informant discrepancies in the clinic setting. Needed directions for future research and theory include theoretically driven attention to conceptualizing informant discrepancies across informant pairs (e.g., parent-teacher, mother-father, parent-child, teacher-child) as well as developing experimental approaches to decrease informant discrepancies in the clinic setting.Keywords: agreement, attribution bias context, correspondence, discrepancies, distortionIn a meta-analysis of 119 studies, Achenbach, McConaughy, and Howell (1987) identified what has come to be one of the most robust findings in clinical child research: Different informants' (e.g., parents, children, teachers) ratings of social, emotional, or behavior problems in children are discrepant (e.g., rs often in .20s). This finding has been replicated by further studies that have examined differences and similarities among informants' ratings under varying monikers (e.g., level of agreement among informants' ratings, disagreement among informants' ratings, correspondence among informants' ratings, discordance among informants' ratings). 1 Informant discrepancies have been found in virtually every method of clinical assessment that researchers and practitioners use to assess abnormal behavior in youths (e.g., rating scales, structured interviews; Achenbach et al., 1987;Grills & Ollendick, 2002). Moreover, discrepancies have been found in samples of informants encompassing diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Hay et al., 1999;Jensen et al., 1999;Kaufman, Swan, & Wood, 1980;Krenke & Kollmar, 1998;Rohde et al., 1999;Rousseau & Drapeau, 1998;Verhulst, Althaus, & Berden, 1987) and in virtually any clinic sample in which discrepancies have been examined (Edelbrock, Costello, Dulcan, Conover, & Kala, 1986;Frank, Van Egeren, Fortier, & Chase, 2000;Frick, Silverthorn, & Evans, 1994;Hart, Lahey, Loeber, & Hanson, 1994;Kazdin, French, & Unis, 1983;Rapee, Barrett, Dadds, & Evans, 1994).The importance in studying informant discrepancies is highlighted by three key factors. First, there is no single measure or method of assessing psychopathology in children that provides a definitive or "gold standard" to gauge which children are experiencing a given set of problems or disorders (e.g., Richters, 1992). The lack of such a standard stems, in part, from the need to incorporate information from multiple informants to asses...

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Informant Variance: The Issue of Parent-Child Disagreement

Cited by 193 publications

References 10 publications

A qualitative analysis of a dyad approach to health-related quality of life measurement in children with asthma

A qualitative analysis of a dyad approach to health-related quality of life measurement in children with asthma

Association Between Mental and Physical Health Problems in High-Risk Adolescents: A Longitudinal Study

Informant Discrepancies in the Assessment of Childhood Psychopathology: A Critical Review, Theoretical Framework, and Recommendations for Further Study.

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