Scholarly record

PARENT-CHILD AND PARENT-TEACHER AGREEMENT ON CHILDRENВ’S BEHAVIORAL AND EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS: DO CHILDRENВ’S SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES MATTER?

Evelin Petric, S. Szamoskozi, K. J. Kinga

Abstract

Objectives: In this study parent-child and parent-teacher accordance was examined concerning childrenВ’s behavioral and emotional problems in secondary school students depending on childrenВ’s social-emotional competencies. The main aim of the study was to analyze the agreement or disagreement between parent and child ratings on childrenВ’s behavioral problems and to examine the extent of this congruence. Methods: Participants were selected from a Hungarian minority group of 561 children (N=561) from Romania, aged between 10-15 years, and their parents and teachers. Male (N=285) and female (N=276) children completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) self-reported version, measuring youth behavior and emotions, and the Social-Emotional Competence Questionnaire measuring childrenВ’s social-emotional competence (SEC). Parents completed the CBCL parent version and the Disruptive Behavior Disorder Rating Scale (DBDRS). Teachers and parents completed the DBDRS to rate youth disruptive behavior. The reliability of CBCL self-reported version was ?=.91, the reliability of parent version was ?=.92, reliability of the DBDRS-T and DBDRS-P was ?=.97, and SECQВ’s reliability was ?=.89. Results: To examine the parent-child agreement we used Pearson correlation coefficient. Results indicated that correlations between parent- and child-report on the total problem score (TPS) were r(511)=.45, on externalizing problems the correlation was r(512)=.49 and on the internalizing problems the correlation was r(512)=.43. Parent-teacher congruence on childrenВ’s disruptive behavior was in the range of r(430)=.57 to r(429)=.88. This agreement was different considering childrenВ’s social-emotional competencies. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the concordance between parent-child ratings on childrenВ’s behavioral and emotional problems was moderate. In future studies would be important to analyze other moderate variables of informant discrepancies. Limitations and further implications are discussed.

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