Informant Discrepancies in the Assessment of Childhood Psychopathology: A Critical Review, Theoretical Framework, and Recommendations for Further Study.

Discrepancies often exist among different informants' (e.g., parents, children, teachers) ratings of child psychopathology. Informant discrepancies have an impact on the assessment, classification, and treatment of childhood psychopathology. Empirical work has identified informant characteristics that may influence informant discrepancies. Limitations of previous work include inconsistent measurement of informant discrepancies and, perhaps most importantly, the absence of a theoretical framework to guide research. In this article, the authors present a theoretical framework (the Attribution Bias Context Model) to guide research and theory examining informant discrepancies in the clinic setting. Needed directions for future research and theory include theoretically driven attention to conceptualizing informant discrepancies across informant pairs (e.g., parent-teacher, mother-father, parent-child, teacher-child) as well as developing experimental approaches to decrease informant discrepancies in the clinic setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The equivalence of regression models using difference scores and models using separate scores for each informant: Implications for the study of informant discrepancies.

Research on informant discrepancies has increasingly utilized difference scores. This article demonstrates the statistical equivalence of regression models using difference scores (raw or standardized) and regression models using separate scores for each informant to show that interpretations should be consistent with both models. First, regression equations were used to demonstrate that difference score models are equivalent to models using separate scores for each informant. Second, a hypothesis-driven empirical example (218 mother–child dyads, mean age = 11.5 years, 49% female participants, 49% White, 47% African American) was used to provide an illustration of the equivalence of the 2 models. Implications of the equivalence of models using difference scores and models using separate scores for each informant are discussed in terms of the growing prevalence of an interpretation in the literature of difference score analyses that is inconsistent with results from equivalent separate informant analyses. Differences in the separate predictive ability of informants should be acknowledged as an alternative interpretation of the difference score regression coefficient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Whose depression relates to discrepancies? Testing relations between informant characteristics and informant discrepancies from both informants' perspectives.

This study examined whether mothers' and children's depressive symptoms were each uniquely related to mother-child rating discrepancies on a multidimensional dyadic construct: domains associated with parental monitoring (i.e., Child Disclosure, Parental Knowledge, and Parental Solicitation). Participants included a community sample of 335 mother/female-caregiver and child dyads (182 girls, 153 boys; 9-16 years old). Children's depressive symptoms were consistently related to each of the three domains of mother-child discrepancies. Mothers' depressive symptoms were related to perceived discrepancies in two domains (Child Disclosure and Parental Knowledge). Furthermore, these relations could not be accounted for by other informant characteristics (maternal stress, child age, child gender, child ethnicity). Findings provide important empirical support for theory suggesting that both informants' perspectives meaningfully contribute to their discrepancies in perceived behavior. Consideration of both informants' perspectives leads to valuable information as to whether any particular characteristic is an important correlate of discrepancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Adjustment: Why Does Gender Moderate Early Adolescent Vulnerability?

The role of child gender in the relationship between interparental conflict and adolescent psychological symptoms was examined in a sample of 924 children 10 to 15 years old and 172 of their mothers. Interparental conflict was a significantly stronger predictor of adolescent internalizing symptoms for girls than boys across type of informant (i.e., mother or child). In examining why the risk posed by interparental conflict differed by gender, further analyses indicated that girls' tendencies to experience elevated levels of communion partly accounted for their greater vulnerability to interparental conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical child psychology: A practice specialty serving children, adolescents, and their families.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 41(3) of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (see record 2010-11935-006). The following sentence on page 79 is incorrect: “As evidence of the growing recognition of board certification, many institutions providing services to children, adolescents, and families are requiring their psychologists to become certified by ABPP (e.g., Mayo Clinic) and some insurance companies now mandate this for their panels (e.g., Group Health in Seattle).” In fact Group Health in Seattle does not mandate ABPP certification for psychologists. The sentence should not contain the example in the second set of parentheses.] Clinical child psychology is a growing and vibrant field of practice and research within professional psychology. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the recent series of articles on specialties in Professional Psychology Research and Practice and delineate the development, design, and purpose of clinical child psychology. The article describes the current trends in the specialty and the challenges clinical child psychologists face in tending to the mental health needs of youth and their families. The need for the specialty and the definition of the scope of the work of clinical child psychologists is described. The parameters of training are also discussed, with a focus on the distinctiveness of the role of the clinical child psychologist. Outlined are applications of the work with children, adolescents, and their families including types of professional practice and collaborations with other professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physically Abusive Mothers' Responses Following Episodes of Child Noncompliance and Compliance.

The authors used sequential analysis to examine specific interaction patterns between physically abusive mothers and their children following episodes of noncompliance and compliance. Fifteen abusive and 15 nonabusive, low-risk mother-child dyads were observed, and their behaviors were coded for specific interactions. The children in the study ranged in age from 2 to 6 years. Results indicated that after noncompliance occurred, physically abusive mothers were more likely than nonabusive mothers to respond negatively and give another command. When child compliance occurred, there were no group differences in the likelihood of praising their children's prosocial behavior, but physically abusive mothers were less likely than nonabusive mothers to engage in other forms of positive behavior (e.g., positive touch) after compliance. Clinical implications are discussed in the context of working with physically abusive families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Clinical child psychology: A practice specialty serving children, adolescents, and their families": Correction to Jackson et al (2010).

Reports an error in "Clinical child psychology: A practice specialty serving children, adolescents, and their families" by Yo Jackson, Fred L. Alberts Jr. and Michael C. Roberts (Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 2010[Feb], Vol 41[1], 75-81). The following sentence on page 79 is incorrect: “As evidence of the growing recognition of board certification, many institutions providing services to children, adolescents, and families are requiring their psychologists to become certified by ABPP (e.g., Mayo Clinic) and some insurance companies now mandate this for their panels (e.g., Group Health in Seattle).” In fact Group Health in Seattle does not mandate ABPP certification for psychologists. The sentence should not contain the example in the second set of parentheses. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-02467-010.) Clinical child psychology is a growing and vibrant field of practice and research within professional psychology. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the recent series of articles on specialties in Professional Psychology Research and Practice and delineate the development, design, and purpose of clinical child psychology. The article describes the current trends in the specialty and the challenges clinical child psychologists face in tending to the mental health needs of youth and their families. The need for the specialty and the definition of the scope of the work of clinical child psychologists is described. The parameters of training are also discussed, with a focus on the distinctiveness of the role of the clinical child psychologist. Outlined are applications of the work with children, adolescents, and their families including types of professional practice and collaborations with other professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical and professional considerations in divorce and child custody cases.

The provision of psychological (e.g., psychotherapy, coparenting, mediation, collaborative divorce, child custody evaluation) services for families of divorce are growing specialties for many clinical and forensic psychologists. However, practice in domestic relations psychology, such as divorce and custody assessment and testimony, is a high-risk venture for incurring ethics complaints and law suits. The lead article and the three commentaries that follow enumerate the various roles practitioners might play, clarify how each role requires specific skill sets that may be outside one’s particular competence and necessitate additional training, describe how countertransferential issues arise, urge meticulous record keeping, discuss some of the subtleties of confidentiality and the releasing of information, describe how transparency in clarifying expectations leads to a lowering of contentiousness, and provide tips for divorce and forensic practice. The special challenges associated with psychologists being tempted to move beyond their role on a case and those of particularly high-risk situations (e.g., complaints of child abuse or domestic violence) are also discussed. Suggestions are offered to help psychologists better serve the public while taking steps to better inoculate themselves from complaints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring the role of parent training in the treatment of childhood anxiety.

Data from a randomized clinical trial comparing the relative efficacy of individual cognitive–behavioral therapy (ICBT), family CBT (FCBT), and a family-based education/support/attention control (FESA) condition were used to examine associations between in-session therapeutic techniques related to parent training (PT) and treatment outcomes. This study explored the extent to which therapists’ use of PT techniques, specifically (a) parental anxiety management, (b) transfer of control from therapist to parent to child over child’s coping, (c) communication skills training, and (d) contingency management training, contributed to treatment outcome in family-based CBT. Children (N = 53; 31 males; 7.8–13.8 years of age; M = 10.1 years, SD = 2.3; 85% Caucasian, 9% African American, 4% Asian, 2% “other” background) with a principal anxiety disorder completed 16 sessions of CBT with their parents. The relative contributions of PT components on treatment outcome were evaluated. As hypothesized, both transfer-of-control and parental anxiety management techniques significantly contributed to improvement on clinician and parent ratings of child global functioning within FCBT. PT did not significantly contribute to improvement on measures of child anxiety. These preliminary findings suggest that when FCBT is conducted for child anxiety, PT (i.e., transfer-of-control and parental anxiety management techniques) may contribute to improvements in the child’s global functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prolegomena to a Thomistic child psychology.

In this article, ideas from St. Thomas Aquinas's neo-Aristotelian philosophy pertaining to the nature of human existence are used to arrive at a metapsychological orientation to child psychology. Four primary characteristics were identified as being fundamental to a Thomistic perspective on child development: anthropological holism, vitalistic (i.e., incarnate and animated or “lived”) integrative development, inherent sociality, and tactile interpersonal relatedness. These characteristics served as guiding themes for the articulation of a succinct, coherent narrative describing the nature of a Thomistic child psychology. Developmental insights from the works of several psychologists (e.g., Alfred Adler, D. W. Winnicott, Ernest G. Schachtel) were used to assist in the creation of this narrative. Associated characteristics of a Thomistic perspective on child psychology and some remarks concerning the future development of such an approach are provided at the conclusion of this analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dog versus collie: Vocabulary in speech to young children.

Adult speech to children was recorded during interactions between 2 nursery school teachers and their 2–4 yr old students and between mothers and their 18–30 mo old children. Nouns in 4 general categories were rated for taxonomic level: subordinate (e.g., collie), basic level (e.g., dog), or superordinate (e.g., animal). Basic level nouns were the most frequently used. A further study was conducted to determine whether heavy reliance on basic level vocabulary in speech to children represents a simplification strategy. 80 undergraduates wrote stories about sets of pictures as they would tell the stories to either a child or an adult listener. Ss produced significantly more basic level nouns than subordinate or superordinate nouns for child listeners only, suggesting the use of a simplification strategy. In addition, the proportion of all items labeled at the subordinate level that were also labeled at the basic level was significantly higher in stories for a child listener than in stories for an adult listener. Data suggest that speakers may tend to orient a child listener to the basic level of categorization even when using words at other taxonomic levels. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multilevel analysis of whole family functioning using the McMaster Family Assessment Device.

This study demonstrates the use of multilevel modeling to examine influences on ratings of whole family functioning collected from multiple family members (N=26,614) living in 11,023 families with 1 or more dependent children aged 0 to 24 years. Results indicate that 45.7% of the variance in ratings of whole family functioning was shared among family members, whereas 54.3% was nonshared. Family-level characteristics, such as socioeconomic status (SES), family structure and composition, and family well-being, accounted for 30.6% of between-family variation (i.e., shared perceptions). Individual-level characteristics, such as sex, age, dependent child status, education, and well-being, accounted for 5.6% of within-family variance (i.e., unique perceptions). There was significant between-family variation in the relationship between dependent child status and ratings of family functioning, and increased rating discrepancies among members of the same family were linked with higher levels of family SES. The findings attest to the validity of measuring whole family functioning directly from self-report ratings provided from multiple family members. However, caution is warranted when assessments are available only from single respondents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Induction of an adaptive response to quercetin, mitomycin C and hydrogen peroxide by low doses of quercetin in V79 Chinese hamster cells

BACKGROUND: Research has shown that critical care nurses show low accuracy on written tests of placement of electrodes, yet it is unknown how this low accuracy translates into placement of electrodes on actual patients. OBJECTIVES: To determine if accuracy scores differ between three methods (written knowledge, simulated clinical practice, actual clinical practice) of evaluating placement of continuous ECG electrodes by a group of cardiac care nurses. METHODS: A standardized scoring diagram was used with three different methods of measuring the accuracy of 44 nurses who worked on a telemetry unit or medical ICU in placing continuous ECG electrodes. The three methods were (1) written knowledge--placement of stickers on a diagram of a torso, (2) simulated clinical practice--placement of electrodes on a human model, and (3) actual clinical practice--placement of electrodes on an assigned patient. RESULTS: For the total diagram score (maximum score = 11), no significant differences among groups were found. For the V1 subscale score (maximum score = 4), a significant difference among groups was found: Scheffé's test showed that the significant difference was between simulated and actual clinical practice. Percentages of nurses achieving the maximum, or accurate, score were 18% for written knowledge, 25% for simulated clinical practice, and 9% for actual clinical practice. CONCLUSIONS: Although total scores did not differ among groups, the mean scores indicate that placement of electrodes was not accurate by any method. This finding has implications for how electrode placement is taught to nurses and for the accountability of nurses for placement of electrodes on their patients.     

Child effects on communication between parents of youth with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Numerous studies indicate interparental conflict causes child externalizing behavior. However, far less is known about the inverse relationship. Exploring this gap in the literature has clear implications for parents of children with externalizing disorders (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]). Adapting an experimental child behavior manipulation paradigm (Lang, Pelham, Atkeson, & Murphy, 1999; Pelham et al., 1997, 1998), parent couples of 9- to 12-year-old boys and girls with ADHD (n = 51) and without ADHD (n = 39) were randomly assigned to interact with a “disruptive” or “typical” confederate child. According to parent and observer ratings, parents interacting with disruptive confederates communicated less positively and more negatively with each other during and after the interactions than did parents who interacted with typical confederates. Observational coding also indicated that child effects on negative interparental communication were more noticeable among parents of youth with ADHD, particularly those with comorbid oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder, compared with parents of youth without ADHD. These findings extend results of prospective studies highlighting child effects on marital quality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent, family, and child characteristics: Associations with mother- and father-reported emotion socialization practices.

The present research examined parental beliefs about children’s negative emotions, parent-reported marital conflict/ambivalence, and child negative emotionality and gender as predictors of mothers’ and fathers’ reported reactions to their kindergarten children’s negative emotions and self-expressiveness in the family (N = 55, two-parent families). Models predicting parents’ nonsupportive reactions and negative expressiveness were significant. For both mothers and fathers, more accepting beliefs about children’s negative emotions were associated with fewer nonsupportive reactions, and greater marital conflict/ambivalence was associated with more negative expressiveness. Furthermore, interactions between child negative emotionality and parental resources (e.g., marital conflict/ambivalence; accepting beliefs) emerged for fathers’ nonsupportive reactions and mothers’ negative expressiveness. In some instances, child gender acted as a moderator such that associations between parental beliefs about emotions and the emotion socialization outcomes emerged when child and parent gender were concordant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence du processus de coping de l’enfant d’age scolaire sur son adaptation à la séparation parentale et aux conflits entre ses parents.

There exists an abundant literature on the effects of parental separation on children. However, few studies focus on the coping process employed by children to help them deal with this familial restructuring. Eighty-five children and their parents, from intact or separated families, answered questionnaires measuring parental conflicts, the child’s coping process, and the child’s adaptation to validate a theoretical model of child adaptation and to identify the mechanisms by which this process is related to their adaptation. The model takes into account the coping process of children subjected to family-related stress. Path analyses show that threat appraisal influences the choice of coping strategies, and reveal that active strategies influence the perceived efficacy of the coping strategies. The results also show that the children’s coping process is partially tied to their adaptation in various ways. However, avoidance and support seeking coping strategies could have different impacts on the adaptation of the children of each group. This study also draws attention to the direct impact of conjugal conflicts on the child’s adaptation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tensions in the parent and adult child relationship: Links to solidarity and ambivalence.

Tensions are normative in the parent and adult child relationship, but there is little research on the topics that cause the most tension or whether tensions are associated with overall relationship quality. In this study, adult sons and daughters, age 22 to 49, and their mothers and fathers (N = 158 families, 474 individuals) reported the intensity of different tension topics and relationship quality (solidarity and ambivalence) with one another. Tensions varied between and within families by generation, gender, and age of offspring. Compared to tensions regarding individual issues, tensions regarding the relationship were associated with lower affective solidarity and greater ambivalence. Findings are consistent with the developmental schism hypothesis, which indicates that parent–child tensions are common and are the result of discrepancies in developmental needs that vary by generation, gender, and age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural differences in the relationship between parenting and children's behavior.

Parent and teacher data for 14,990 children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth were used in multilevel analyses to examine the relationship between ethnicity, children's aggression and emotional problems, and parenting. Using parent and teacher report, relationships between ethnicity and child behavior were present but modest. The association between parental harshness and child aggression differed between ethnic groups and across informants. Using teacher report of outcomes, parental harshness was positively related to child aggression in European Canadian families but negatively related in South Asian Canadian families. For all ethnic groups, parental harshness was positively related to children's aggression when parent report of outcomes was used, but relationships varied in strength across ethnic groups. The relationship of parental harshness with child emotional problems did not differ across groups, irrespective of informant. The results are discussed within the context of an ecological model of parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A naturalistic observation study of the links between parental depressive symptoms and preschoolers' behaviors in everyday life.

Previous research has shown that parental depressive symptoms are linked to a number of negative child outcomes. However, the associations between parental depressive symptoms and actual child behaviors in everyday life remain largely unknown. The aims of this study were to investigate the links between parental depressive symptoms and everyday child behaviors and emotional language use using a novel observational methodology, and to explore the potential moderating role of parent–child conflict. We tracked the behaviors and language use of 35 preschool-aged children for two 1-day periods separated by one year using a child version of the Electronically Activated Recorder, a digital voice recorder that records ambient sounds while participants go about their daily lives. Parental depressive symptoms were positively associated with multiple problem behaviors among children (i.e., crying, acting mad, watching TV) when measured both concurrently and prospectively, and with negative emotion word use prospectively. Further, the links between parental depressive symptoms and child crying were moderated by parents' perceptions of parent–child conflict. This study offers the first empirical evidence of direct links between parental depressive symptoms and child behaviors in daily life and presents a promising research tool for the study of everyday child behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)