Parent-Child Agreement on Parent-to-Child Maltreatment

Laura H.C.G. Compier-de Block, Lenneke R.A. Alink*, Mariëlle Linting, Lisa J.M. van den Berg, Bernet M. Elzinga, Alexandra Voorthuis, Marieke S. Tollenaar, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Parent-child agreement on child maltreatment was examined in a multigenerational study. Questionnaires on perpetrated and experienced child maltreatment were completed by 138 parent-child pairs. Multi-level analyses were conducted to explore whether parents and children agreed about levels of parent-to-child maltreatment (convergence), and to examine whether parents and children reported equal levels of child maltreatment (absolute differences). Direct and moderating effects of age and gender were examined as potential factors explaining differences between parent and child report. The associations between parent- and child-reported maltreatment were significant for all subtypes, but the strength of the associations was low to moderate. Moreover, children reported more parent-to-child neglect than parents did. Older participants reported more experienced maltreatment than younger participants, without evidence for differences in actual exposure. These findings support the value of multi-informant assessment of child maltreatment to improve accuracy, but also reveal the divergent perspectives of parents and children on child maltreatment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)207-217
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Family Violence
Volume32
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2017

Funding

The authors thank Marinus H. van IJzendoorn for his role in the study design and feedback on earlier versions of the paper. The study was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (LRAA: VIDI grant; MJBK: VICI grant; MHvIJ: NWO SPINOZA prize) and the Leiden University research profile area Health, prevention and the human life cycle.

FundersFunder number
LRAA
Universiteit Leiden
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

    Keywords

    • Child maltreatment
    • Measurement
    • Parent-child agreement

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