Child Emotional Characteristics as Predictors of Informant Disagreement in Oppositional Defiant Symptomatology

Abstract The present study examines the disagreement between parents and teachers on the Oppositional Defiant Disorder Symptomatology (ODS) in children and how sociodemographic factors like gender and socio-economic status (SES); and emotional characteristics such as aggressiveness, temperament, callousness; anxious and depressive symptoms, and irritability may be predictors of this incongruence. A community sample of 614 3-year-old, followed up until age 14 ( N = 287) was obtained from a longitudinal study that began in 2009. Parents and teachers completed an ODS scale and multiple questionnaires about child´s emotional difficulties. Analyses indicated that parent-teacher ratings were discrepant, and this disagreement diminished with age (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient = 0.12 to 0.69) with parents consistently reporting higher ODS scores compared to teachers across various ages. Predictors of parent-teacher disagreement on ODS were analyzed using polynomial regression with second and third order interactions. Results revealed that disagreement was higher when rating females, and for children belonging to low + low/medium or high SES groups. Lower ratings of aggressiveness, callousness and irritability, while higher scores of effortful control were significant predictors of higher parent-teacher ODS discrepancies. Research on how child affective variables influence multi-informant disagreement could lead to better clinical practice in addition to more accurate assessment and diagnosis in the infant-juvenile population.