Agreement and discrepancy between mother and child in the evaluation of children's anxiety symptoms and anxiety life interference

A.I. Pereira*, P. Muris, L. Barros, R. Goes, T. Marques, V. Russo

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This study explored the agreement and discrepancy between mother and child reports of children's anxiety symptoms and anxiety life interference. A large community sample of 1,065 Portuguese children aged between 7 and 14 years and their mothers completed a DSM-based anxiety symptoms scale. For a subsample of 135 children with an anxiety disorder, additional data on children's anxiety life interference and maternal anxiety and depression symptoms were collected. The results showed that children generally reported higher levels of anxiety symptoms than their mothers. Overall, most correlations between mother and child reports of anxiety symptoms were significant but in the low to moderate range, with the strongest associations for symptoms of specific phobias and school phobia. In the subsample of children with an anxiety disorder, mothers reported higher levels of anxiety life interference than children, and the correlation between mother and child reports of anxiety life interference was significant but again modest in magnitude. Lastly, maternal anxiety was positively associated with the discrepancy between mother and child reports of anxiety symptoms. Together, the results of this study further underline the importance of a multi-informant approach in the evaluation of children's anxiety problems.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)327-337
Number of pages11
JournalEuropean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume24
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2015

Keywords

  • ADOLESCENCE
  • Anxiety life interference
  • Anxiety symptoms
  • Children
  • DEPRESSION
  • DISORDERS INTERVIEW SCHEDULE
  • DSM-IV
  • INFORMANT DISCREPANCIES
  • PARENT
  • PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
  • Parent-child agreement and discrepancy
  • RELIABILITY
  • REVISED VERSION
  • SCARED-R

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