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Maternal distress and discrepancy in reports of psychopathology in chronically ill children
E H Canning1, S B Hanser, K A Shade
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University.
Insights
Maternal distress impacts how mothers report their child's psychopathology. Mothers experiencing distress may over-report disorders, leading to discrepancies with child self-reports, affecting accurate diagnosis.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Child psychopathology assessment relies on multiple informants, including mothers and children.
- Discrepancies between maternal and child reports are common in clinical settings.
- Maternal distress is a potential confounding factor in evaluating child mental health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between maternal distress and mother-child discrepancies in reporting child psychopathology.
- To investigate how maternal distress influences the identification of psychiatric diagnoses in chronically ill children.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a standardized structured interview to assess child psychopathology in 92 chronically ill children (mean age 12.5 years).
- Collected reports from both mothers and children regarding the presence of psychiatric diagnoses.
- Correlated maternal distress levels with the number of disorders reported by each informant.
Main Results:
- Low agreement was observed between mothers and children on the presence of any child psychiatric diagnosis.
- Maternal distress correlated with the number of disorders mothers reported, but not with child-reported disorders.
- Mothers reporting a disorder when their child did not reported significantly higher distress.
Conclusions:
- Maternal distress is a significant factor influencing the mother's reporting of child psychopathology.
- Informant choice (mother vs. child) and maternal distress levels are critical considerations in psychopathology evaluation.
- Addressing maternal distress may improve the accuracy of child psychopathology assessments.
Abstract:
This article focuses on the relation between maternal distress and mother-child discrepancy in reports of child psychopathology, as assessed by a standardized structured interview. The sample includes 92 chronically ill children (mean age +/- SD = 12.5 +/- 2.7 years). Agreement between mother and child on the presence of any child psychiatric diagnosis was low. Maternal distress was correlated with the number of disorders identified by the mother but not with those identified by the child. Maternal distress was significantly higher in the mothers who identified a disorder but whose children did not. Choice of informant and maternal distress are significant factors in the evaluation of psychopathology.