Parent-Child Agreement on Parent-to-Child Maltreatment.
Parent-child agreement on child maltreatment was examined in a multigenerational study. Questionnaires on perpetrated and experienced child maltreatment were completed by 138 parent-child pairs. Multi-level analyses were conducted to explore whether parents and children agreed about levels of parent-to-child maltreatment (convergence), and to examine whether parents and children reported equal levels of child maltreatment (absolute differences). Direct and moderating effects of age and gender were examined as potential factors explaining differences between parent and child report. The associations between parent- and child-reported maltreatment were significant for all subtypes, but the strength of the associations was low to moderate. Moreover, children reported more parent-to-child neglect than parents did. Older participants reported more experienced maltreatment than younger participants, without evidence for differences in actual exposure. These findings support the value of multi-informant assessment of child maltreatment to improve accuracy, but also reveal the divergent perspectives of parents and children on child maltreatment.
Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Laura H C G
LHCG
Compier-de Block
Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.|Faculty of Law, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Lenneke R A
LRA
Alink
Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Mariëlle
M
Linting
Clinical Psychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Lisa J M
LJM
van den Berg
Clinical Psychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Bernet M
BM
Elzinga
Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Alexandra
A
Voorthuis
Clinical Psychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Marieke S
MS
Tollenaar
Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Marian J
MJ
Bakermans-Kranenburg
Child maltreatment; Measurement; Parent-child agreement