Measuring anxiety: parent-child reporting differences in clinical samples.
This study examines parent-child reporting differences for childhood anxiety in normal controls (n = 16) and in children with diagnosed anxiety disorders (ANX; n = 15), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 15), and comorbid ANX and ADHD (n = 16). Correspondence between child reports of anxiety on two self-report inventories and diagnosis based on structured parent interview was assessed for all four groups. Parent-child agreement did not appear to be measurement dependent but did differ by diagnostic group, with poorer agreement for clinical groups. Though needing replication, these findings suggest that it is inadvisable to rely exclusively on self-report measures when assessing childhood anxiety, especially in clinical populations. Such measures can be useful in monitoring clinical progress, however, provided parent and child reports are examined separately.
Barbosa
Jose
J
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Tannock
Rosemary
R
Manassis
Katharina
K
D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008347:Manifest Anxiety Scale / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015588:Observer Variation; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment