title: Understanding parent-child social informant discrepancy in youth with high functioning autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: We investigated discrepancies between parent- and self-reported social functioning among youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Three distinct samples showed discrepancies indicating that parents viewed their children as performing one standard deviation below a standardization mean, while youth viewed themselves as comparably-skilled relative to peers. Discrepancies predicted lower parental self-efficacy, and lower youth-reported hostile attributions to peers, marginally-lower depression, and decreased post-treatment social anxiety. Discrepancies predicted outcomes better than parent- or youth-report alone. Informant discrepancies may provide valuable additional information regarding child psychopathology, parental perceptions of parenting stress, and youth treatment response. Findings support a model where abnormal self-perceptions in ASD stem from inflated imputation of subjective experiences to others, and provide direction for improving interventions for youth and parents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, 102 Gilmer Hall, PO Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400, USA. mlerner@virginia.edu
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Lerner
authors.forename: Casey D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Calhoun
authors.forename: Amori Yee
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Mikami
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Los Reyes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents; D012649:Self Concept; D020377:Self Efficacy; D057566:Self Report; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult