Parent–Child Discrepancies in Report of Psychopathology: The Contributions of Response Bias and Parenting Stress

Abstract

This study explored the associations between response-bias features, parenting stress, and parent–child discrepancies in self-report and parent ratings of psychopathology in a sample of 153 preadolescents from an inpatient psychiatric setting. Correlational and multiple regression analyses utilized combinations of dissimulation (FB) and defensiveness (DEF) validity scales from the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY; Lachar & Gruber, 1995) and Personality Inventory for Children (PIC–2; Lachar & Gruber, 2001) and components from Abidin's (1995) Parenting Stress Index (PSI) to predict normalized parent–child discrepancies between the PIY/PIC–2 clinical scales. Response-bias features were significantly associated with hypothesized patterns of under- and overreporting and accounted for most of the variance in parent–child discrepancies. Although child stress components of the PSI demonstrated a generalized pattern of moderate relationships with parent–child discrepancies, parent stress components demonstrated a weaker and more specific pattern of relationships.