TY - JOUR
T1 - Cross-informant ratings of internalizing and externalizing behavior in adolescent-parent pairs in six countries. Does being adopted make a difference?
AU - Roskam, Isabelle
AU - Van Der Voort, Anja
AU - Juffer, Femmie
AU - Stievenart, Marie
AU - Bader, Michel
AU - Muntean, Ana
AU - Escobar, Maria Josefina
AU - Santelices, Maria Pia
AU - Molina, Paola
AU - Casonato, Marta
AU - Ongari, Barbara
AU - Pierrehumbert, Blaise
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Low agreement between self-reports and parent reports of the behavioral adjustment of adolescents has been widely documented in the literature. However, it has been little studied in connection with adoptees. In the current research, the magnitude of agreement between reports of adolescents' behavioral problems given by the adolescents themselves and their parents and the direction of the possible discrepancies between these reports were studied. A comparison was made between adopted and nonadopted adolescent-parent dyads. The research questions were tested on a sample of 294 adolescent-parent pairs (189 adoptees and 105 controls) from Belgium, Romania, Chile, Switzerland, Italy, and the Netherlands. Correlation analyses together with Fisher R to Z comparisons between countries and between adopted and nonadopted dyads and Repeated Measures Analyses revealed that both the magnitude of agreement and the direction of the discrepancies in internalizing and externalizing behavioral ratings between informants, that is, parents and their adolescent, did not depend on whether the adolescents were adopted or not. Compared with their parents, both adopted and control adolescents reported problems more frequently. Some variations in the magnitude of agreement were found between countries. An interaction effect between gender and informant indicated that discrepancies for internalizing behavior were higher in parent-adolescent daughter pairs than in parent-adolescent son pairs.
AB - Low agreement between self-reports and parent reports of the behavioral adjustment of adolescents has been widely documented in the literature. However, it has been little studied in connection with adoptees. In the current research, the magnitude of agreement between reports of adolescents' behavioral problems given by the adolescents themselves and their parents and the direction of the possible discrepancies between these reports were studied. A comparison was made between adopted and nonadopted adolescent-parent dyads. The research questions were tested on a sample of 294 adolescent-parent pairs (189 adoptees and 105 controls) from Belgium, Romania, Chile, Switzerland, Italy, and the Netherlands. Correlation analyses together with Fisher R to Z comparisons between countries and between adopted and nonadopted dyads and Repeated Measures Analyses revealed that both the magnitude of agreement and the direction of the discrepancies in internalizing and externalizing behavioral ratings between informants, that is, parents and their adolescent, did not depend on whether the adolescents were adopted or not. Compared with their parents, both adopted and control adolescents reported problems more frequently. Some variations in the magnitude of agreement were found between countries. An interaction effect between gender and informant indicated that discrepancies for internalizing behavior were higher in parent-adolescent daughter pairs than in parent-adolescent son pairs.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Adoption
KW - Externalizing and internalizing problems
KW - Informant discrepancy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85026231773&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/ipp0000063
DO - 10.1037/ipp0000063
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85026231773
SN - 2157-3883
VL - 6
SP - 32
EP - 46
JO - International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation
JF - International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation
IS - 1
ER -