Parent-adolescent Discrepancies Regarding Adolescent Psychopathology and its Relation to Parental Characteristics in a Clinical Sample

Jongil Yuh, Karen Weihs, David Reiss
2013 International journal of human ecology  
This study investigated the differences between adolescents' own perceptions of their psychopathology and perceptions by clinically depressed parents of their adolescents' psychopathology. The study also examined parental characteristics that accounted for discrepancies between parents and adolescents. The clinical sample consisted of 61 adolescents and their parents who were diagnosed with a major depressive disorder. The adolescents and parents evaluated the adolescents' psychopathology in
more » ... arate interviews with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Youth Self-Report (YSR). Parents reported on current depressive symptoms and parenting practices using questionnaires. The results revealed that parent-adolescent discrepancies were greater in regard to affective and anxiety problems compared to oppositional defiant and conduct problems. Parental rejection was associated with differences in scores for affective problems after controlling for parents' current depressive symptoms and adolescents' age and gender. The findings highlight the importance of considering adolescents' affective and anxiety problems when treating depressed parents. Furthermore, the findings suggest that parental rejection may play a pivotal role when interpreting the discrepancy concerning adolescents' affective problems.
doi:10.6115/ijhe.2013.14.2.15 fatcat:h6i3ofiacrdrxf2udgdbo5ikii