Examining the Discrepancies Between School-age Children and Parent Report of Emotional and Behavioral Symptoms
Pre-intervention assessment is an integral part in determining an appropriate treatment plan, and among pediatric populations, the use of multiple informants is a standardized way to assess psychopathology in children. Past studies have found significant differences when comparing self-report measures between parents and their children, with parents reporting greater challenges than their children (Egan et al. 2018, Goolsby et al. 2017, Miller et al. 2014), despite using reliable and valid measures. The parent-child discrepancy may provide meaningful information and not be disregarded as a mere measurement error. This study aims to determine the discrepancies between parent and child accounts of emotional and behavioral symptoms in school-age children who were referred to a specialty clinic for autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders. Sixty-nine families (children aged 10-18; 55 males/14 females) who sought treatment at the clinic were administered the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Youth Self-Report (YSR) before clinical intervention. The CBCL is a 118-item parent questionnaire that evaluates eight domains of emotional and behavioral functioning of their children (anxious/depressed, withdrawn/depressed, somatic complaints, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, rule-breaking behavior, aggressive behavior) from three categories (Internalizing problems, Externalizing problems, Total problems); the YSR is directly comparable to the CBCL for children to complete (Bordin et al. 2013). Paired samples t-tests results suggested that parent report was significantly higher on 7 of 8 of the subscales (significance levels ranging from p = 0.01 to p < 0.001), with Internalizing problems (e.g., withdrawn and thought problems) having the largest discrepancy (p < 0.001). Inconsistent ratings of symptoms may lead to difficulty in determining a treatment plan for clinicians and further influence the treatment outcomes. Future studies are needed to explore the underlying factors that contribute to the discrepancy and its role in parent-child relationships and treatment outcomes.