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Predictive Value of Informant Discrepancies in Reports of Parenting: Relations to Early Adolescents’ Adjustment

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Abstract

Research has demonstrated a lack of agreement between parent and child reports across a range of parent and child variables. These discrepancies hinder the interpretation of research findings as well as diagnostic and treatment decisions in clinical practice. The current study examined the hypothesis that discrepancies between parent and child reports of parenting can be useful as predictors of future child outcomes. The participants included 559 early adolescents and their primary caregivers (79% African American, 21% Caucasian). Both respondents provided information on parental nurturance, harsh discipline and inconsistent discipline. A year later, information of adolescents’ internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and social competence was collected. Structural equation modeling revealed that parent-child discrepancies in parenting reports could be explained by a latent factor which was a significant predictor of child internalizing problems and social competence, but not of externalizing problems, after adjusting for initial internalizing and externalizing problems. The three models applied across gender and ethnicity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department-CH415, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University Blvd., Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA

    Kim Guion & Sylvie Mrug

  2. Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Michael Windle

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  1. Kim Guion
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  2. Sylvie Mrug
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  3. Michael Windle
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Correspondence to Kim Guion.

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Guion, K., Mrug, S. & Windle, M. Predictive Value of Informant Discrepancies in Reports of Parenting: Relations to Early Adolescents’ Adjustment. J Abnorm Child Psychol 37, 17–30 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-008-9253-5

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