Abstract:
The current study examined the relationship between maternal report and adolescent self-report of adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as the extent to which mothers' own level of distress predicted discrepancies between adolescent self-report and maternal report of adolescent symptoms. A total of 924 biological mother - adolescent dyads served as the study sample. This participant data was drawn from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). Adolescent symptoms were assessed using the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, specifically the Youth Self Report to assess adolescent report, and the Child Behavior Checklist to assess maternal report. Maternal distress was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Maternal level of distress was determined to predict discrepancy between adolescent self-report and maternal report of both adolescent internalizing and adolescent externalizing symptoms. The relationship between maternal distress and discrepancy did not differ between mother/son and mother/daughter dyads.
