Children’s Behavior: Consistency in Perceptions between Mothers, Teachers, Observers, and Children across Multiple Contexts

Studies have shown that children showing signs of behavior problems early in life are at considerable risk for continued behavioral disturbances throughout childhood (Winsler & Wallace, 2002). A significant tool in early identification and prevention is assessment of the child’s behavior often provided by parents, teachers, and observers. Assessments of child behavior benefit highly from multiple informants; however, the degree to which agreement is achieved among informants is important in order for them to be considered a significant tool. Mothers in 113 families completed questionnaires concerning their perceptions of their preschool aged child’s behavior, and their 3-5-yearold child was observed while they worked on an activity together with their parents. The child’s behavior during the activity was coded by trained observers. Children also reported on their perceptions of their psychological self-concepts. Furthermore, the children’s preschool or kindergarten teachers were mailed questionnaires in order to gain an additional perspective on the child’s behavior. The questionnaire and observation process was repeated again one year later and data collected from each phase of the study were used in my investigation. Results indicated greater agreement between all informants for more easily observable behaviors like anger and aggression, persistence, and activity level. Greater agreement was also found for boys than for girls, for more overt behaviors as well as internalizing behaviors and characteristics (e.g., timidity, anxiety). Results concerning the role of child age and day care experience in informant agreement were less clear. Children’s Behavior 3 Children’s Behavior: Consistency in Perceptions between Mothers, Teachers, Observers, and Children across Multiple Contexts Parents and school professionals are faced with the challenge of effectively assessing and serving children and their needs. Specifically, child behavior is assessed by implementing various methods such as evaluations, interviews, and questionnaires in order to determine what is best for the child. Information gathered from multiple contexts and environments is important in order to provide a more holistic picture of the child. Clearly, given that children often behave differently in different contexts (Mangelsdorf, Schoppe, & Buur, 2000), assessments of child behavior benefit highly from multiple informants. Agreement among multiple informants is measured by consistency, and problems arise in assessing children when reliability is low. High levels of disagreement among informants may affect the degree to which parents and teachers are able to communicate effectively about children’s behavior, and to work together to develop plans for modifying children’s behavior. When evaluating the degree of consistency across informants of child behavior whose perceptions are based on interactions with the child in a wide range of contexts, important factors must be considered. Roles of informants vary with respect to interacting with a child; for example, teachers and parents may employ their own distinct ways of interacting with children. Therefore, it is logical to say that as the informants' roles differ in the life of a child, the child behavior that the informant has an opportunity to observe will differ as well. Mood is an important factor to consider in addition to roles and behaviors. Observers, teachers, and parents may all be “correct” in responses regarding a child, but agreement may not be as strong because the mood and energy of Children’s Behavior 4 the child differs at different times of day. However, despite very real difficulties in achieving consistency among informants, it is still advantageous to include multiple informants in order to provide the most thorough picture of the child's behavior across multiple contexts (Mangelsdorf et al., 2000). Mother, Teacher, and Observer Agreement The majority of research on parent-teacher agreement has been conducted on school-age children, leaving a gap in research on informant agreement. Consistency in behavioral reports on preschool aged children is examined much less often, despite the importance of early identification of behavioral disturbances and early intervention (Winsler & Wallace, 2002). The existing research on young children has yielded inconsistent results. Some investigators have found greater parent-teacher agreement for preschoolers and kindergarteners than for older children (Vitaro, Gagnon, & Tremblay, 1991). On the other hand, research has also shown that parents, observers, and teachers have increased agreement as children get older and agreement tends to be slightly higher for more external characteristics (e.g., anger, aggression) rather than internal characteristics (sadness, anxiety; Mangelsdorf et al., 2000). In a study conducted by Firmin, Proemmel, and Hwang (2005), researchers found statistically significant agreement when comparing overall child behavior ratings between parents and teachers. The parent and teacher informants within the study completed a behavioral assessment (Clinical Assessment of Behavior) consisting of questions pertaining to six domains. These domains included externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, social skills, competence, adaptive behaviors, and critical items. Correlations were calculated and ratings between parents and teachers showed statistically significant Children’s Behavior 5 agreement in all domains excluding internalizing behavior. Interestingly enough, this is in accord with other research in that informants tend to agree more about overt actions rather than covert actions. Behaviors such as aggression and delinquency, categorized as externalizing behaviors, have higher levels of agreement because behaviors such as these are more directly observable. Unlike externalizing behaviors, any internalized feeling a child may have, such as depression or anxiety, is less noticeable to outside informants (Mangelsdorf et al., 2000). In other research, reports of parents and observers in regards to child temperament (an aspect of child behavior) have been found to show little evidence of correlation. In a study by Seifer, Sameroff, Barrett, and Krafchuk (1994), infants were rated by mothers and observers on behavior using a temperament survey. Results showed that reliability between observer ratings and parent ratings was low. Conclusions were drawn by the researchers based on observation reliability that the mothers may in fact be the poor reporters in measuring their infant’s temperament, thus causing the low correlations between observers and mothers in this study. The reasoning for this explanation is connected to some of the criticisms of using parental reports. Specifically, researchers have debated the advantages and disadvantages of using parental reports (Mangelsdorf et al., 2000). Disadvantages may be reflected in any bias that may be shown through parent expectations or parent characteristics, rather than the actual child’s behavior. However, many researchers are in support of the use of parent reports due to the simple fact that they are the informant who spends the most time with the child. Therefore, parents can report on more behaviors and activities across a wider spectrum of contexts. Children’s Behavior 6 Not only is parent, teacher, and observer agreement important for determining results from behavior assessments, but the child’s self-concept is just as vital. Ideally, to provide the clearest picture of child behavior and functioning, it might also be useful to gain the child's perspective on his/her behavior and feelings. This type of approach is commonly used with older children and adults, especially for gaining information concerning internalized behaviors (e.g., sadness, fear) that may be less obvious to other informants (Stanger & Lewis, 1993). Previous Research on Children’s Self-Concepts Children’s self-concepts are an important component of their social and emotional development (Eder, 1990). However, the majority of self-concept research is based on adolescent or young adult self-perceptions due to the opinion that young children may not have the ability to describe themselves. For example, studies have disputed whether a young child’s self-concept is differentiated enough or not, and have debated at what age children obtain a multidimensional view of themselves (Harter & Pike, 1984). However, more recent research indicates that 4.5 to 7.5 year olds do in fact possess a multidimensional self-concept (Measelle, Ablow, Cowan, & Cowan, 1998). Part of the disagreement among researchers is due to obstacles in obtaining accurate assessments of young children’s self-concepts. Some of these obstacles have included finding assessments that fit children’s short attention spans and limited expressive vocabulary, and finding age-appropriate activities in which these children can give accurate feedback. In a longitudinal study by Measelle et al. (1998), researchers gathered information from child participants by using self-perceptive scales based on the Berkeley Puppet Interview (BPI). The BPI assesses academic competence, social competence, aggression Children’s Behavior 7 hostility, depression-anxiety, achievement motivation, and peer acceptance using forcedchoice responses to opposing statements presented by puppets. An advantage to using this assessment is the level of comfort achieved. By allowing children to hear both positive and negative responses and making it known that both are acceptable answers, more reliable data is obtained due to the minimizing of socially desirable responding. Findings in this study suggest that during the span of their lives when children are going from being at home to becoming elementary students, young children have both consistent and coherent conceptions of themselves; this study also suggests that agreement between children and teachers or children and mothers tends t