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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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1998

Inge Seiffge-Krenke  and
Frank Kollmar
Inge Seiffge-Krenke
Affiliation:
University of Mainz, Germany
Frank Kollmar
Affiliation:
University of Bonn, Germany
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

Externalising disorderinternalising disorderadolescence
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines , Volume 39 , Issue 5 , July 1998 , pp. 687 - 697
Copyright
© 1998 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry

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