Measuring anxiety: parent-child reporting differences in clinical samples.

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Parent-child reporting discrepancies are common in assessing childhood psychological conditions.
• Self-report measures and clinical diagnoses may not always align for childhood anxiety.
• Understanding these differences is crucial for accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine parent-child reporting differences in childhood anxiety across different diagnostic groups.
• To assess the correspondence between child self-reports and structured parent interviews for anxiety.
• To determine if reporting agreement varies based on diagnostic status (anxiety, ADHD, comorbid ANX/ADHD).

Main Methods:

• Compared parent and child reports of anxiety symptoms in four groups: normal controls, anxiety disorder (ANX), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and comorbid ANX/ADHD.
• Utilized two child self-report anxiety inventories.
• Assessed agreement with diagnoses derived from a structured parent interview.

Main Results:

• Parent-child agreement on anxiety reporting differed significantly across diagnostic groups.
• Poorer agreement was observed in clinical groups (ANX, ADHD, ANX/ADHD) compared to normal controls.
• Agreement was not dependent on the specific self-report measurement tools used.

Conclusions:

• Exclusive reliance on child self-report measures for diagnosing childhood anxiety is inadvisable, particularly in clinical populations.
• Parent-child reporting discrepancies highlight the need for multiple assessment methods.
• Self-report measures can be valuable for monitoring treatment progress when analyzed separately from parent reports.