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Agreement in Youth–Parent Perceptions of Parenting Behaviors: A Case for Testing Measurement Invariance in Reporter Discrepancy Research

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Abstract

While conventional wisdom suggests that parents and their adolescent offspring will often disagree, the nature of discrepancies in informant reports of parenting behaviors is still unclear. This article suggests testing measurement invariance in an effort to clarify if discrepancies in informant scores reflect true differences in perspectives on the same construct, or if the instrument is simply not measuring the same construct across parents and youth. The study provides an example by examining invariance and discrepancy across child, adolescent, and parent reports on the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. The sample for this study was 255 youth (51.4 % male) aged 6–17 years (M age  = 12.3 years) and an accompanying parent. A five-factor model of the measure was found to provide approximately equivalent measurement across four participant groups (children under 12 years, adolescents aged 12–18 years, and parents of each group, respectively). Latent mean levels of reported parenting constructs varied greatly across informants. Age moderated the association between reports of two subscales, Parental Involvement and Positive Parenting, such that adolescents were more consistent with parents. The findings highlight the utility of testing measurement invariance across informants prior to evaluating differences in their reports, and demonstrate the benefits of considering invariance in the larger conversation over informant discrepancies.

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Acknowledgments

The current research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH067572) and Institute of Mental Hygiene, as well as an institutional research grant awarded to CFW.

Author Contributions

JDR wrote the paper with assistance from RAG and CFW, who developed an early draft. RAG and CFW jointly developed the initial idea for this manuscript, which was then appended by JDR. JDR conducted the statistical analyses. ELN provided critical revisions. CFW conducted the study, consulted on analyses, and provided revisions. All authors approve the submission of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Justin D. Russell

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Rebecca A. Graham

  3. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, 4380 Palmer, Ames, IA, 50011-4380, USA

    Erin L. Neill & Carl F. Weems

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  1. Justin D. Russell
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Correspondence to Carl F. Weems.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from participating parents, while informed assent was obtained from youth.

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Russell, J.D., Graham, R.A., Neill, E.L. et al. Agreement in Youth–Parent Perceptions of Parenting Behaviors: A Case for Testing Measurement Invariance in Reporter Discrepancy Research. J Youth Adolescence 45, 2094–2107 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0495-1

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