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Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
07:56

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure

Published on: September 19, 2019

Parent and child reporting of negative life events: discrepancy and agreement across pediatric samples

Craig A Johnston1, Ric G Steele, Eve A Herrera

  • 1University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7555, USA.

Journal of Pediatric Psychology
|November 7, 2003
PubMed

Insights

Children and parents often disagree on negative life events. Communication may improve during illness, but discrepancies highlight the need for multiple reporters in pediatric health assessments.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Psychology
  • Child Health Reporting
  • Family Communication Studies

Background:

  • Accurate assessment of negative life events in children is crucial for understanding their well-being.
  • Discrepancies between child and parent reports can impact clinical evaluations and interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the consistency of child and parent reports regarding the child's negative life events.
  • To compare reporting consistency across healthy children, children with cancer, and children with chronic illnesses.

Main Methods:

  • 613 child-parent dyads provided independent reports of negative life events.
  • Participants included healthy children (n=362), children with cancer (n=130), and children with chronic illnesses (n=121).

Main Results:

  • Children reported more negative life events than their parents.
  • Children with chronic illnesses reported fewer events, while parents of children with cancer reported more.
  • Healthy children and their parents showed the greatest reporting discrepancies.

Conclusions:

  • Child-parent communication regarding negative life events may improve during serious illness.
  • Significant discrepancies persist, underscoring the importance of using multiple reporters for comprehensive assessment.
  • Clinicians should acknowledge the strengths and limitations of both child and parent reports in pediatric samples.
Abstract

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