Factors that influence the accuracy of adolescent proxy reporting of parental characteristics: a research note

Socioeconomic status (SES) is considered to be an important marker of physical, mental, and social outcomes. However, methods used to gather socioeconomic information vary widely in terms of both the indicators of SES used (e.g., education, occupation, income, etc.) and data collection strategies. In particular, studies of adolescents often rely on children's proxy reports of measures of parents' SES. There is disagreement in the literature regarding children's ability to reliably serve as proxy respondents for their parents. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of adolescents and their parents, we assess the accuracy of children's proxy reports of mothers' education and receipt of public assistance. Results show that accuracy of children's proxy reports varies by children's age, gender, and race; however, social class largely accounts for race differences found.