Sexual abuse and disclosure concerns of youth in foster care.

BACKGROUND: Youth in foster care have higher lifetime rates of sexual abuse victimization than their peers who are not in foster care. This sexual abuse occurs before, during, and after their placement. Yet there is a dearth of qualitative research focused on the characteristics of the abuse and the disclosure experiences of youth in foster care. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to understand potential barriers to disclosure for youth who were abused while in foster care. PARTICIPANTS & SETTING: Our study used anonymous, archival data of 143 one-on-one chat sessions on the US based National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (NSAOH) with youth currently living in foster care who sought help for sexual abuse. METHODS: Hotline staff summarized youth's disclosure experiences and barriers using an assessment that included open-ended responses. We used thematic analysis to code text segments. RESULTS: Youth in foster care most often discussed that the abuse was being perpetrated by a foster family member (66 %). Disclosure barriers included concerns for physical safety, not wanting to move placements, not trusting the system to keep them safe, and not wanting to disclose again after previously receiving a negative reaction to their disclosure. CONCLUSIONS: Youth in foster care who seek help for sexual abuse while in the foster care system have unique barriers to disclosure. This study underscores the need for more qualitative research with youth in foster care and includes safety recommendations and implications for training and education of those who work with youth in foster care.

Barriers to Seeking Medical Care Among Youth Victims of Sexual Violence.

PURPOSE: Youth victims of sexual violence often experience physical health problems but are unlikely to receive medical care. However, victims' reasons for not accessing medical care have been understudied. We examined barriers to seeking medical care among youth victims who contacted the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline. METHODS: We used archival data about one-on-one chat sessions with youth victims between June 2018 and February 2020. Hotline staff described victims' reasons for not accessing medical care via an online assessment. We coded and qualitatively examined these reasons using data about 520 victims with physical health concerns who had not received medical care. RESULTS: Victims' barriers were rooted in individual beliefs and contextual realities reflected in three categories: (1) perception that medical care was not needed, (2) anticipated consequences of seeking medical care, and (3) inability to physically access medical care. Victims who perceived care as unnecessary did not understand the health implications of abuse or minimized their need for care. Anticipated consequences included privacy and control over disclosure, stigmatization, retaliation from the perpetrator, family disruptions, and retraumatizing medical treatment. Victims unable to physically access care were uncertain how to access care independently, lacked social support, or were prevented from care by the perpetrator. DISCUSSION: Medical treatment can ameliorate acute health concerns and increase safety, but youth victims perceived numerous barriers to care. Several barriers implied unintended consequences of child maltreatment policies, including mandatory reporting. Trauma-informed policy and practice are critical for improving victims' access to medical care and other support services.

Online Help-Seeking Among Youth Victims of Sexual Violence Before and During COVID-19 (2016-2021): Analysis of Hotline Use Trends.

BACKGROUND: Three years since the onset of COVID-19, pandemic-related trends in child sexual abuse (CSA) remain poorly understood. Common administrative surveillance metrics may have underestimated abuse during the pandemic, given youths' limited access to mandatory reporters. Research using anonymous service-use data showed increased violence-related online help-seeking but overlooked youth-specific help-seeking for CSA during COVID-19. Understanding pandemic-related trends in CSA can inform abuse detection practices and mental health service provision for youth victims. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to harness anonymous help-seeking data from the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (NSAOH) to glean insights about CSA occurrence in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We used an archival sample of victims who contacted NSAOH from 2016 to 2021 (n=41,561). We examined differences in the proportion of youth and adult victims contacting NSAOH during the first COVID-19 year (March 2020 to February 2021) compared to the prior year (March 2019 to February 2020; n=11,719). Further, we compared key characteristics of hotline interactions among youth victims during the first COVID-19 year to the prior year (n=5913). Using joinpoint regression analysis, we examined linear trends in the number of monthly sampled youth and adult victims (excluding victims of unknown age) from 2016 to 2021 who discussed any victimization event (n=26,904) and who discussed recent events (ie, events occurring during the pandemic; n=9932). RESULTS: Most youth victims were abused by family members prior to (1013/1677, 60.4%) and after (2658/3661, 72.6%) the onset of COVID-19. The number of youth victims contacting NSAOH spiked in March 2020 and peaked in November 2020 for all youth (slope=28.2, 95% CI 18.7-37.7) and those discussing recent events (slope=17.4, 95% CI 11.1-23.6). We observed a decline in youth victims into spring 2021 for all youth (slope=-56.9, 95% CI -91.4 to -22.3) and those discussing recent events (slope=-33.7, 95% 47.3 to -20.0). The number of adult victims discussing any victimization event increased steadily from January 2018 through May 2021 (slope=3.6; 95% CI 2.9-4.2) and then declined (slope=-13.8, 95% CI -22.8 to -4.7). Trends were stable for adults discussing recent events. CONCLUSIONS: This study extends the use of hotline data to understand the implications of the pandemic on CSA. We observed increased youth help-seeking through the NSAOH coinciding with the onset of COVID-19. Trends persisted when limiting analyses to recent victimization events, suggesting increased help-seeking reflected increased CSA during COVID-19. These findings underscore the utility of anonymous online services for youth currently experiencing abuse. Further, the findings support calls for increased youth mental health services and efforts to incorporate online chat into youth-targeted services.

Event Characteristics of Sexual Violence Perpetration Against Romantic Partners Versus Non-Romantic Partners.

Tactics used to perpetrate sexual violence may be crucial to understanding when and why sexual violence occurs. Moreover, most sexual violence occurs between people who know each other-including in the context of dating or sexual relationships. Little is known about the context of sexual violence that occurs with non-romantic partners. To address these research gaps, we examined online survey data from 786 young adults (weighted n = 763) aged 19 to 27 years, living across the United States. Findings suggest that 60% of sexual assault, 40% of attempted rape, 42% of rape, and 67% of coercive sex were perpetrated against a romantic partner, defined as a current or ex-boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or domestic partner. Contextual differences were noted by relationship type: Those who perpetrated against romantic partners were more likely than those who targeted non-romantic partners to report that it occurred because they were feeling sad or angry. They were also more likely to say that the other person was completely responsible for what happened. Conversely, those who aggressed against non-romantic partners were more likely to say that someone else found out about what happened. Making the other person feel guilty was the most common tactic for both groups. The most frequently endorsed reason for perpetrating sexual violence was "feeling really horny," although feeling "good" or being drunk/high were also common reasons noted by aggressors. Afterward, many said they felt guilty or ashamed and were worried about the other person's feelings. Fear of getting caught was universally absent. Findings support the importance of building emotion regulation and emotional awareness skills in sexual violence prevention programming. Prevention programs should also discuss coercion as a violence tactic, since perpetrators may not always recognize this to be sexual violence. More generally, violence prevention programs should also address healthy relationships, consent, and taking responsibility.

Polyvictimization Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth.

INTRODUCTION: Polyvictimization is a significant public health issue. Sexual and gender minority youth are important to include in polyvictimization research because they report higher rates of victimization than nonsexual and gender minority youth. This study examines whether polyvictimization attenuates the associations between individual types of victimization and depressed mood and substance use across gender and sexual identities. METHODS: Data were collected cross-sectionally from 3,838 youth aged 14-15 years. Youth were recruited through social media between October 2018 and August 2019 across the U.S. Analyses were conducted in July 2022. Sexual and gender minority youth were oversampled. Depressed mood and substance use were dependent variables. RESULTS: Transgender boys were the most likely to be polyvictims (25%). Transgender girls (14.2%) and cisgender sexual minority girls (13.4%) also reported high rates. Cisgender heterosexual boys were the least likely to be classified as polyvictims (4.7%). When adjusting for polyvictimization, existing relationships between individual types of victimization (e.g., theft) and depressed mood became nonsignificant in most cases. Of exception, witnessing violence and peer victimization remained significant predictors of the odds of depressed mood. Most associations between individual types of victimization and substance use became nonsignificant after considering polyvictimization, with the exception of cisgender heterosexual boys and girls, for whom many remained significant but attenuated (e.g., emotional interpersonal violence). CONCLUSIONS: Sexual and gender minority youth experience a disproportionate number of victimizations across multiple domains. A comprehensive assessment of victimization exposure may be important when considering prevention and intervention approaches for depressed mood and substance use.

Survivors' Concerns During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Insights From the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of stay-at-home orders in March 2020, experts warned of the possible threat of increased interpersonal violence among individuals isolated with abusers. Researchers have sought to understand how the pandemic impacted victims primarily through the analysis of administrative data sources, such as hospital and police records. However, the preponderance of this data shows a decrease in formal help-seeking among victims during the pandemic, speaking to an impaired access to services but limiting our understanding of other ways in which the pandemic has affected survivors. To overcome these limitations, we examined data collected about users of the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (NSAOH). Information was collected through staff based on retrospective recall following one-on-one chat sessions with 470 victims of sexual violence who contacted the NSAOH in the first six months of the pandemic and discussed COVID-19-related concerns. We qualitatively examined open-ended descriptions of COVID-19-related concerns and identified the four most common: (1) mental health concerns, (2) creation or exacerbation of an unsafe living situation, (3) not being able to access services, and (4) not having access to a mandatory reporter or trusted adult. These findings demonstrate the myriad ways in which the pandemic affected the lives of victims of sexual violence and can inform practices for services and practitioners to best meet the needs of survivors moving forward. Specifically, these findings highlight the need for more accessible mental health services and funding for sexual assault service providers, as well as the importance of safety planning, particularly in times of crisis.

Youth Characteristics Associated With Sexual Violence Perpetration Among Transgender Boys and Girls, Cisgender Boys and Girls, and Nonbinary Youth.

Importance: Gender minority adults experience higher rates of sexual violence (SV) than cisgender adults. How this disparity extends to youths, including perpetration rates, is unknown. Objective: To compare rates of experience and perpetration of SV by gender identity and investigate characteristics associated with odds of perpetration within gender identity categories. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study used baseline data from a national online longitudinal survey collected in 2018 to 2020. Eligible participants were youths ages 14 to 16 years who read English and had internet access. Data were analyzed in November 2021 and March 2022. Exposures: Youth characteristics included stressors associated with being marginalized (eg, internalized transphobia), general stressors (eg, trauma not associated with experiencing SV), other marginalized statuses (eg, identifying as a girl), factors associated with protection (eg, social support), environmental characteristics (eg, community violence exposure), and risk factors associated with SV (eg, consumption of violent pornography). Main Outcomes and Measures: Self-reported rates of experiencing and perpetrating SV, defined as sexual assault, rape, attempted rape, and coercive sex, among cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary youths. Results: Among 4193 youths in the sample (mean [SD] age, 14.8 [0.7] years), 3282 participants (78.3%) were cisgender, 329 participants (7.9%) were transgender, and 582 participants (13.9%) were nonbinary. The odds of SV perpetration were not statistically significantly different for transgender boys and girls (odds ratio [OR], 0.90; 95% CI, 0.57-1.41; P = .64) or nonbinary youths (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.54-1.12; P = .18) compared with cisgender boys and girls. By contrast, transgender boys and girls (OR, 2.31; 95% CI, 1.83-2.91; P < .001) and nonbinary youths (OR, 2.37; 95% CI, 1.98-2.83; P < .001) were more than 2-fold as likely as cisgender boys and girls to report experiencing SV. Aggressive behavior was associated with higher odds of SV perpetration for transgender boys and girls (adjusted OR [aOR], 1.87; 95% CI, 0.75-4.65; P = .18) and nonbinary youths (aOR, 1.61; 95% CI, 0.78-3.32; P = .20). Indications of hostile masculinity were associated with higher odds of SV perpetration among cisgender youths (ie, positive attitudes for boys to engage in rape behaviors: aOR per unit increase in score, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.07-1.25; P < .001; sexual dominance: aOR per unit increase in score, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.04; P < .001) but not among transgender or nonbinary youths. Conclusion and Relevance: These findings may suggest an important foundation for the development of inclusive, research-based SV prevention programs and methods for incorporating gender identity effectively into SV research.

Reactions to the disclosure of intrafamilial childhood sexual abuse: Findings from the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline.

INTRODUCTION: For child sexual abuse (CSA) victims, disclosure can be helpful or harmful depending on how recipients respond. Despite a growing body of literature examining reactions to disclosure, little is known about the experiences of current CSA victims, particularly those abused by family. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe and explore the initial disclosure experiences of intrafamilial CSA victims, and whether reactions varied based on the type of disclosure recipient. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: This study utilized anonymous, archival data from the US-based National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (NSAOH), and focused on a sample of 224 intrafamilial CSA victims who had previously disclosed to one type of recipient. METHODS: NSAOH staff summarized children's disclosure experiences via an open-ended survey field. Data were independently coded using the Social Reactions Questionnaire. RESULTS: Nearly three-fourths (73%) of children described receiving a negative reaction to disclosure. Negative reactions included distracting or dismissing the victim (33%), not believing the victim (29%), or retaliating or responding violently following disclosure (10%). Children most frequently disclosed abuse to non-offending family (66%), friends (17%), and formal support providers (12%). Relative to friends and intimate partners, victims were more likely to discuss negative reactions from family (49% v 87%, respectively, Cramer's V = 0.33, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Disclosing to non-offending family may be unproductive and potentially harmful for some children. This study has implications for disclosure-related planning protocols on anonymous hotlines. Findings underscore the importance of educating the public, and parents in particular, about how to respond to CSA disclosures.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Perceptions of Health and Well-Being Among Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents and Emerging Adults.

Purpose: The study purpose was to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic may be differentially impacting the well-being of sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth compared with their non-SGM counterparts. Specifically, we looked at perceptions of mental and physical health impact and relevant aspects of coping with the pandemic such as engagement in prosocial activities that might ultimately promote resilience. Methods: Survey data were collected between November 27, 2020, and December 11, 2020, from 990 adolescents and emerging adults aged 13-23 years. Participants were recruited through advertisements on Facebook and Instagram with an effort to overrecruit SGM youth. Questions asked youth about their perception of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their physical and mental health, the types of prosocial activities engaged in during the pandemic, and how they felt they were doing now versus before the pandemic. Results: SGM youth reported a significantly greater impact from the pandemic than non-SGM youth. Both SGM youth and cisgender heterosexual females reported greater impact on their mental health compared with cisgender heterosexual males, with cisgender sexual minority females and gender minority youth reporting the highest mental health impact. Gender minority youth also reported feeling less connected to their families and less safe at home as a result of the pandemic. Conclusion: Health professionals, educators, and advocates need to help assess SGM youth for negative impact from the pandemic and help them connect with other youth and support resources online as they move forward. Youth may also benefit from programs connecting them to volunteer work and neighbors.

Understanding Sexual Harassment Through an Individual and Relational Lens: Are Risk Factors the Same for Female and Male Perpetrators?

Given widespread recognition of sexual violence as a public health concern, sexual harassment has garnered considerable attention from researchers and the public. Yet research with adolescent samples has typically focused on the experiences of victims rather than perpetrators, and males as perpetrators and females as victims. In the current article, we consider whether risk and protective factors operate similarly within and across sex assigned at birth. A national sample of youth, ages 14 and 15, were recruited via social media and surveyed online (N = 1,981). At the individual level, girls who sexually harassed others, were more likely to have a propensity to respond to stimuli with anger compared to boys who sexually harassed. At the relational level, girls who sexually harassed were more likely to be victims of sexual harassment compared to boys, and having a negative peer environment (have delinquent peers, seen someone get attacked, and know someone who has been sexually assaulted) was of particular importance in understanding why girls harass others. For boys who harass, family relations, having seen or heard about peer physical or sexual assault and bullying perpetration were important for contextualizing boys' sexual harassment. As empathy increased, the relative odds of sexually harassing decreased for girls. Future research should explore motivations for perpetrating sexual harassment, bystander interventions, and longitudinal frameworks to identify causal patterns to determine which factors inhibit or facilitate sexual harassment.

Exposure to Suicidal Behavior and Social Support Among Sexual- and Gender-Minority Youth.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we examine reports of exposure to suicidal behavior by youth sexual and gender identity. We explore how exposure is related to depressed mood in the context of high social support while accounting for cumulative adversity. METHODS: Data from a large national sample of youth aged 14 to 15 years in the United States (N = 3979) were collected online in 2018-2019. RESULTS: Sexual- and gender-minority youth were more likely to know someone close to them who attempted suicide, relative to cisgender heterosexual youth. Cisgender heterosexual youth were buffered from recent depressed mood when they endorsed having high social support in the context of exposure to suicidal behavior; less social support did not provide such a buffer. For cisgender sexual-minority male and female youth, exposure to suicidal behavior was related to recent depressed mood regardless of the level of social support. For gender-minority youth assigned female at birth, the combination of exposure and high social support was significantly associated with elevated depressed mood. Cumulative adversity accounted for some but not all of these relationships, indicating the influential role of exposure to suicidal behavior on depressed mood for some youth. CONCLUSIONS: These findings illustrate the complexities of social support and raise questions about its potential to magnify stress rather than serve as a buffer for some youth. Although findings need to be replicated, suicide prevention efforts should carefully consider how to promote resilience among these suicide-exposed sexual- and gender-minority youth who may themselves be at risk for suicidal ideation and behavior.

Principles underlying the use of multiple informants' reports.

Researchers use multiple informants' reports to assess and examine behavior. However, informants' reports commonly disagree. Informants' reports often disagree in their perceived levels of a behavior ("low" versus "elevated" mood), and examining multiple reports in a single study often results in inconsistent findings. Although researchers often espouse taking a multi-informant assessment approach, they frequently address informant discrepancies using techniques that treat discrepancies as measurement error. Yet, recent work indicates that researchers in a variety of fields often may be unable to justify treating informant discrepancies as measurement error. In this review, the authors advance a framework (Operations Triad Model) outlining general principles for using and interpreting informants' reports. Using the framework, researchers can test whether or not they can extract meaningful information about behavior from discrepancies among multiple informants' reports. The authors provide supportive evidence for this framework and discuss its implications for hypothesis testing, study design, and quantitative review.

Physiological correlates of peer victimization and aggression in African American urban adolescents.

This study examined physiological correlates (cortisol and α-amylase [AA]) of peer victimization and aggression in a sample of 228 adolescents (45% male, 55% female; 90% African American; M age = 14 years, SD = 1.6 years) who participated in a longitudinal study of stress, physiology, and adjustment. Adolescents were classified into victimization/aggression groups based on patterns with three waves of data. At Wave 3, youth completed the Social Competence Interview (SCI), and four saliva samples were collected prior to, during, and following the SCI. Repeated-measures analyses of variance with victimization/aggression group as the predictor, and physiological measures as outcomes, controlling for time of day, pubertal status, and medication use revealed significant Group × SCI Phase interactions for salivary AA (sAA), but not for cortisol. The results did not differ by sex. For analyses with physical victimization/aggression, aggressive and nonaggressive victims showed increases in sAA during the SCI, nonvictimized aggressors showed a decrease, and the normative contrast group did not show any change. For analyses with relational victimization/aggression, nonaggressive victims were the only group who demonstrated sAA reactivity. Incorporating physiological measures into peer victimization studies may give researchers and clinicians insight into youth's behavior regulation, and help shape prevention or intervention efforts.

Discrepancies in parents' and children's reports of child emotion regulation.

The ability to regulate one's emotions effectively has been linked with many aspects of well-being. The current study examined discrepancies between mothers' and children's reports of child emotion regulation. This investigation examined patterns of discrepancies for key aspects of emotion regulation (i.e., inhibition and dysregulated expression) and for three emotions (anger, sadness, worry). A total of 61 mother-child dyads (mean children's age=9.3 years) participated. As hypothesized, discrepancies for inhibition subscales were of a larger magnitude than those for dysregulated expression subscales. Furthermore, age was related to discrepancies in both anger subscales, parent reports of child externalizing symptoms were related to anger dysregulated expression discrepancies, and child reports of internalizing symptoms were related to sadness dysregulated expression discrepancies. Overall, the findings suggest that patterns of discrepant reports are not random but rather may provide meaningful and useful information about the nature of emotion regulation.

Understanding and using informants' reporting discrepancies of youth victimization: a conceptual model and recommendations for research.

Discrepancies often occur among informants' reports of various domains of child and family functioning and are particularly common between parent and child reports of youth violence exposure. However, recent work suggests that discrepancies between parent and child reports predict subsequent poorer child outcomes. We propose a preliminary conceptual model (Discrepancies in Victimization Implicate Developmental Effects [DiVIDE]) that considers how and why discrepancies between parents' and youths' ratings of child victimization may be related to poor adjustment outcomes. The model addresses how dyadic processes, such as the parent-youth relationship and youths' information management, might contribute to discrepancies. We also consider coping processes that explain why discrepancies may predict increases in youth maladjustment. Based on this preliminary conceptual framework, we offer suggestions and future directions for researchers who encounter conflicting reports of community violence exposure and discuss why the proposed model is relevant to interventions for victimized youths.

The regulating role of negative emotions in children's coping with peer rejection.

This study examined the role of emotions as predictors of children's coping responses to peer rejection experiences. Children ages 7-12 (N = 79) completed questionnaires to assess emotional and coping responses to peer rejection scenarios. This study examined three coping factors specific to peer rejection (positive reappraisal, ruminative coping, and aggressive coping) and examined results separately for two negative peer experiences (teasing and exclusion). Children's emotions predicted coping responses after controlling for peer experiences. Specifically, anger was associated with aggressive coping, whereas sadness was associated with ruminative coping, supporting theory that emotions have distinct motivational-behavioral properties. Peer experiences were also important, as victimization was associated with aggressive coping, and receipt of prosocial peer behaviors was associated with positive reappraisal. These findings provide an empirical foundation for future research and the development of interventions to facilitate adaptive reactions to peer rejection.

Associations between Sadness and Anger Regulation Coping, Emotional Expression, and Physical and Relational Aggression among Urban Adolescents.

This study examined associations between self reports of sadness and anger regulation coping, reluctance to express emotion, and physical and relational aggression among two cohorts of predominantly African-American fifth (N = 191; 93 boys and 98 girls) and eighth (N = 167; 73 boys and 94 girls) graders. Multiple regression analyses indicated unique associations between relational aggression and expressive reluctance and sadness regulation coping. In contrast, physical aggression, but not relational aggression, was associated with anger regulation coping. These relations did not differ across gender, but, the strength of the association between anger regulation coping and physical aggression varied by grade. Sadness regulation coping moderated the association between expressive reluctance and relational aggression. Conversely, anger regulation coping moderated the relation between expressive reluctance and physical aggression, however, the strength of this relation differed by gender. These findings have important implications for intervention efforts.

The longitudinal consistency of mother-child reporting discrepancies of parental monitoring and their ability to predict child delinquent behaviors two years later.

This study examined the longitudinal consistency of mother-child reporting discrepancies of parental monitoring and whether these discrepancies predict children's delinquent behaviors 2 years later. Participants included 335 mother/female-caregiver and child (46% boys, >90% African American; age range 9-16 years [M = 12.11, SD = 1.60]) dyads living in moderate-to-high violence areas. Mother-child discrepancies were internally consistent within multiple assessment points and across measures through a 2-year follow-up assessment. Further, mothers who at baseline consistently reported higher levels of parental monitoring relative to their child had children who reported greater levels of delinquent behaviors 2 years later, relative to mother-child dyads that did not evidence consistent discrepancies. This finding could not be accounted for by baseline levels of the child's delinquency, maternal and child emotional distress, or child demographic characteristics. This finding was not replicated when relying on the individual reports of parental monitoring to predict child delinquency, suggesting that mother-child reporting discrepancies provided information distinct from the absolute frequency of reports. Findings suggest that mother-child discrepancies in reports of parental monitoring can be employed as new individual differences measurements in developmental psychopathology research.

Whose depression relates to discrepancies? Testing relations between informant characteristics and informant discrepancies from both informants' perspectives.

This study examined whether mothers' and children's depressive symptoms were each uniquely related to mother-child rating discrepancies on a multidimensional dyadic construct: domains associated with parental monitoring (i.e., Child Disclosure, Parental Knowledge, and Parental Solicitation). Participants included a community sample of 335 mother/female-caregiver and child dyads (182 girls, 153 boys; 9-16 years old). Children's depressive symptoms were consistently related to each of the three domains of mother-child discrepancies. Mothers' depressive symptoms were related to perceived discrepancies in two domains (Child Disclosure and Parental Knowledge). Furthermore, these relations could not be accounted for by other informant characteristics (maternal stress, child age, child gender, child ethnicity). Findings provide important empirical support for theory suggesting that both informants' perspectives meaningfully contribute to their discrepancies in perceived behavior. Consideration of both informants' perspectives leads to valuable information as to whether any particular characteristic is an important correlate of discrepancies.