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Discrepancies between Mothers' and Fathers' Perceptions of Sons' and Daughters' Problem Behaviour: A Longitudinal Analysis of Parent‐Adolescent Agreement on Internalising and Externalising Problem Behaviour
Author(s) -
SeiffgeKrenke Inge,
Kollmar Frank
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/1469-7610.00368
Subject(s) - cbcl , psychology , child behavior checklist , developmental psychology , longitudinal study , perception , checklist , clinical psychology , medicine , pathology , neuroscience , cognitive psychology
One hundred and ninety‐eight adolescents and their mothers ( N = 189) and fathers ( N = 136) participated in a 4‐year longitudinal study. Adolescent problem behaviour was assessed by the Youth Self‐Report (YSR) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). In addition, parental stress and marital adjustment were determined. Results showed that mothers and fathers showed high agreement, especially about their daughters, whereas parents and adolescents showed little agreement. Agreement was higher for internalising than for externalising behaviours. In general, adolescents reported more symptomatology than their parents did. However, mothers' ratings of their children's behaviours were significantly correlated with adolescents' self‐ratings, but fathers' ratings were not. Statistical tests of correlations showed that mothers experiencing stress caused by marital problems perceived more problem behaviours in their children. Fathers' perceptions were relatively unaffected by personal adjustment. However, poor marital adjustment perceived by both parents showed a significant negative relation to adolescent externalising problem behaviour.