Abstract
The phenomenon of discordance between parents’ and children’s ratings of the child’s mental health symptoms or of parenting
behavior until recently has been treated as a problem of reliability. More recent work has sought to identify factors that
may influence discordance, yet much remains to be learned about why informants’ ratings of developmental phenomena are discordant
and the meaning of such discordance. This study examined the extent to which discordance can be treated as a measure of the
difference between two equally valid perceptions, and as such an indicator of the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship.
One category of concordance and three patterns of discordance were derived from item-level differences in ratings of affection,
control, and punitiveness provided by a diverse sample (53% female; 46% Hispanic-American, 35% African-American, 15% European-American,
4% another race/ethnicity) of 484 adolescents aged 12–20 years (M = 15.67, SD = 1.72) and their parents. Over and above adolescents’
and parents’ independent ratings of parenting, the discordance between these ratings was found to predict adolescent reports
of anxiety and conduct disorder symptoms, as well as the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship. This was particularly
true when adolescents and parents were discordant in their ratings of affection and when adolescents rated their parents higher
on affection than did parents themselves. Implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.
behavior until recently has been treated as a problem of reliability. More recent work has sought to identify factors that
may influence discordance, yet much remains to be learned about why informants’ ratings of developmental phenomena are discordant
and the meaning of such discordance. This study examined the extent to which discordance can be treated as a measure of the
difference between two equally valid perceptions, and as such an indicator of the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship.
One category of concordance and three patterns of discordance were derived from item-level differences in ratings of affection,
control, and punitiveness provided by a diverse sample (53% female; 46% Hispanic-American, 35% African-American, 15% European-American,
4% another race/ethnicity) of 484 adolescents aged 12–20 years (M = 15.67, SD = 1.72) and their parents. Over and above adolescents’
and parents’ independent ratings of parenting, the discordance between these ratings was found to predict adolescent reports
of anxiety and conduct disorder symptoms, as well as the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship. This was particularly
true when adolescents and parents were discordant in their ratings of affection and when adolescents rated their parents higher
on affection than did parents themselves. Implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Empirical Research
- Pages 1-18
- DOI 10.1007/s10964-011-9741-8
- Authors
- Laura K. Maurizi, School of Social Work, University Michigan, 1080 South University, Room 3704, Ann Arbor, MI 48019, USA
- Elizabeth T. Gershoff, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A2702, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- J. Lawrence Aber, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, Kimball Hall, 246 Green St, 417E, New York, NY 10003, USA
- Journal Journal of Youth and Adolescence
- Online ISSN 1573-6601
- Print ISSN 0047-2891