Teacher and parent ratings of behavior problems in Jamaican children and adolescents: convergence and divergence of views

ABSTRACT

In child assesment, mental health workers often collect behavioral information from parents and teachers. The literature, however, generally indicates low correlations between parent and teacher child problem ratings. One possible explanation is that parents and teachers, in home and school settings, respectively, have disparate opportunities to observe some child problems. Teachers and parents may have equally good opportunities to observe Undercontrolled problems (eg., fighting, lying, disobedience), but teachers may have fewer opportunities to observe overcontrolled problems (e.g., depression, withdrawal, shyness). We explored this possibility, examining parent and teacher reports of overcontrolled and undercontrolled problems in Jamaican children. As expected, when parents and teachers rated overcontrolled problems we generally found nonsignificant correlations and generally significant correlations when they rated Undercontrolled problems. We inferred that because undercontrolled problems are directed outwardly they may be more objectively and similarly observed. Conversely, and thus less concordant judgments (AU)