Criterion validity of interpreting scores from multi-informant statistical interactions as measures of informant discrepancies in psychological assessments of children and adolescents

Abstract

Parents and adolescents often provide discrepant reports of adolescent and family behavior. Recent work indicates that scores from indirect measures of discrepancies between parent and adolescent reports, namely, statistical interactions between reports, longitudinally predict adolescent psychopathology. However, no previous work supports the criterion validity of interpreting scores from these interactions as indirect measures of informant discrepancies. In a community sample of 50 parents and adolescents ages 14-17 years (M = 15.4 years, 20 males and 30 females), we examined indirect measures of parent-adolescent reporting discrepancies, using parent and adolescent reports of parents' awareness of adolescents' whereabouts and activities (i.e., parental monitoring). We examined these reporting discrepancies in relation to a structured interview that directly assesses "discrepant beliefs" or perceived discrepancies between parent and adolescent views of daily life topics (e.g., doing chores and homework). Greater parent- and adolescent-reported parental monitoring related to lower perceived discrepant beliefs. Importantly, the interaction between parental monitoring reports provided additional information. Specifically, when adolescents provided relatively high parental monitoring reports, we observed greater parents' parental monitoring reports relating to lower perceived discrepant beliefs, but no such relation when adolescents provided relatively low parental monitoring reports. Overall, findings suggest that indirect assessments of parent-adolescent discrepancies in reports of parental monitoring relate to direct assessments of how parents and adolescents perceive everyday life topics differently. These findings have important implications for understanding the longitudinal links between informant discrepancies and adolescent psychopathology, as well as developing multimethod assessments of informant discrepancies in psychological assessments.