title: Parent and Adolescent Agreement for Reports of Life Stressors.
abstract: In this article, we investigated the extent and nature of informant discrepancies on parent- and adolescent self-report versions of a checklist measuring youth exposure to life stressors. Specifically, we examined (a) mean-level differences, relative consistency, and consensus for family-level and youth-specific stressors and (b) the utility of parent-youth discrepancies in accounting for variance in youth temperament and psychopathology. Participants were 106 parent-child dyads (47 male, 59 female; 90.6% mothers) aged 13 to 18 years old ( M = 16.01, SD = 1.29). The results revealed evidence for both congruence and divergence in parent and youth reports, particularly with respect to respondents' accounts of youth-specific stressors. Discrepancies for youth-specific stressors were associated with adolescents' negative affectivity, surgency, effortful control, and internalizing problems. Discrepancies for youth stressors may therefore reveal individual differences in emotionality and self-regulation, thus reflecting meaningful variance in adolescents' functioning.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Shauna C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Kushner
authors.affiliation: 2 Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Tackett
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D057189:Checklist; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011599:Psychopathology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D013694:Temperament
keywords: adolescence; informant discrepancies; psychopathology; stressor checklists; temperament