Parent–Teacher Agreement on Children's Problems in 21 Societies

Abstract

Parent–teacher cross-informant agreement, although usually modest, may provide important clinical information. Using data for 27,962 children from 21 societies, we asked the following: (a) Do parents report more problems than teachers, and does this vary by society, age, gender, or type of problem? (b) Does parent–teacher agreement vary across different problem scales or across societies? (c) How well do parents and teachers in different societies agree on problem item ratings? (d) How much do parent–teacher dyads in different societies vary in within-dyad agreement on problem items? (e) How well do parents and teachers in 21 societies agree on whether the child's problem level exceeds a deviance threshold? We used five methods to test agreement for Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher's Report Form (TRF) ratings. CBCL scores were higher than TRF scores on most scales, but the informant differences varied in magnitude across the societies studied. Cross-informant correlations for problem scale scores varied moderately across societies studied and were significantly higher for Externalizing than Internalizing problems. Parents and teachers tended to rate the same items as low, medium, or high, but within-dyad item agreement varied widely in every society studied. In all societies studied, both parental noncorroboration of teacher-reported deviance and teacher noncorroboration of parent-reported deviance were common. Our findings underscore the importance of obtaining information from parents and teachers when evaluating and treating children, highlight the need to use multiple methods of quantifying cross-informant agreement, and provide comprehensive baselines for patterns of parent–teacher agreement across 21 societies.

Notes

Note: Published sources for data sets are listed in the references. All other sources are unpublished.

Note: DSM = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; CBCL = Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6–18 (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001); TRF = Teacher's Report Form (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Omnicultural mean (SD) = mean of 21 society means and the standard deviation of that mean; omnicultural SD = mean of 21 society standard deviations.

^a Parenthetical numerals indicate the number of items comprising each scale, based on 90 items analyzed.

Note: All effect sizes reported were significant at the p < .001 level; blank cells were not significant at p < .001. I = informant; G = gender; A = age group (6–8, 9–11), S = society; DSM = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

^a TRF > CBCL for Withdrawn/Depressed.

Note: DSM = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Note: The table is arranged in ascending order by CBCL × TRF mean scale r, which is the average within each society of the 17 scale rs. CBCL = Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6–18 (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001); TRF = Teacher's Report Form (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001).

^a The mean item Q for each society was calculated by correlating the mean item ratings for all parents with the mean item ratings for all teachers.

^b The mean dyadic Q for each society was calculated by averaging across all dyads in the society's sample the dyadic Qs derived from correlating the 90 item ratings for each parent-teacher dyad in the sample. The dyadic SD for each society was the SD of the mean dyadic Q.

^c The mean for each measure represents the omnicultural mean (i.e., the mean of the 21 society means).

Note: The 24 items in common from the “top 30” lists for both the CBCL and TRF are arranged in descending order by CBCL omnicultural mean item rating. A/D = Anxious/Depressed; W/D = Withdrawn/Depressed; SOC = Social Problems; ATT = Attention Problems; RBB = Rule-Breaking Behavior; AGG = Aggressive Behavior.

^a ES = effect size from 2 (informant) × 21 (society) mixed-model analysis of variance; I = informant; S = society.

^b CBCL base rate = percentage of cases rated 1 or 2 on CBCL for full sample of 27,962.

^c TRF base rate = percentage of cases rated 1 or 2 on TRF for full sample of 27,962.

Note: SENS = sensitivity, percentage of cases deviant on Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) also deviant on Teacher's Report Form (TRF); PPV = positive predictive value, percentage of cases deviant on TRF also deviant on CBCL; SPEC = specificity, percentage of cases nondeviant on CBCL also nondeviant on TRF; NPV = negative predictive value, percentage of cases nondeviant on TRF also nondeviant on CBCL; CC = consistent classification, percentage of total cases either deviant according to both informants or nondeviant according to both informants.

^a First entry = Internalizing. Second entry = Externalizing.

^b Omnicultural mean for each column.

Color versions of one or more figures in the article can be found online at www.taylorandfrancis.com/hcap.