title: Teacher, parent, and peer reports of early aggression as screening measures for long-term maladaptive outcomes: who provides the most useful information?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study compared the ability of teacher, parent, and peer reports of aggressive behavior in early childhood to accurately classify cases of maladaptive outcomes in late adolescence and early adulthood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Weighted kappa analyses determined optimal cut points and relative classification accuracy among teacher, parent, and peer reports of aggression assessed for 691 students (54% male; 84% African American and 13% White) in the fall of first grade. Outcomes included antisocial personality, substance use, incarceration history, risky sexual behavior, and failure to graduate from high school on time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Peer reports were the most accurate classifier of all outcomes in the full sample. For most outcomes, the addition of teacher or parent reports did not improve overall classification accuracy once peer reports were accounted for. Additional gender-specific and adjusted kappa analyses supported the superior classification utility of the peer report measure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that peer reports provided the most useful classification information of the 3 aggression measures. Implications for targeted intervention efforts in which screening measures are used to identify at-risk children are discussed.
authors: Department of Psychology, Amherst College.
authors: Katherine H
authors: KH
authors: Clemans
authors: Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.
authors: Rashelle J
authors: RJ
authors: Musci
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
authors: Jeannie-Marie S
authors: JM
authors: Leoutsakos
authors: Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.
authors: Nicholas S
authors: NS
authors: Ialongo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D057237:Criminals; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010379:Peer Group; D012309:Risk-Taking; D013334:Students; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult