Interrater agreement and discrepancy when assessing problem behaviors, social-emotional skills, and developmental status of kindergarten children

Abstract

Objective: The present study examined parent-teacher agreement and discrepancy when assessing kindergarten children's behavioral and emotional problems, social-emotional skills, and developmental status.

Method: Parents and teachers of overall n = 922 kindergarten children (M _age = 3.99; 449 girls) rated the children using the Conners Early Childhood, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the Questionnaire for Assessing Preschool Children's Behavior.

Results: Agreement was moderate for problem behaviors and social-emotional skills and substantial for developmental status. Agreement was stronger for externalizing than for internalizing problems. Agreement on the clinical relevance of problem behaviors and of social-emotional skills was stronger for children with a clinical diagnosis than for those without. Parents tended to report more problems, but also greater social-emotional skills and developmental status, than teachers.

Conclusions: The findings corroborate the importance of situational specificity for understanding interrater agreement and discrepancy. Future teacher questionnaires should more specifically assess children's functioning in kindergarten.

Keywords: externalizing and internalizing behavior; interrater discrepancy; multiple informants; parent-teacher agreement; preschool children; situational specificity.