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Abusive parents' perceptions of child problem behaviors: An example of parental bias

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Abstract

The behavior of children in 21 child abusive and 21 nonabusive matched comparison families were compared using home observations performed by professional independent observers and parental report measures (Becker Bipolar Adjective Checklist, Child Behavior Checklist, Parent Daily Report). Parental report measures of child conduct problems differed significantly between the two groups, independent observations showed few significant differences in rates of either child or parental behaviors. Results are discussed in terms of the validity of parental perceptions and reports of child problem behaviors, the informativeness of differing reports for diagnosis and clinical treatment, and the need to gather corroboration across various sources and settings before clinical decisions are made that may irrevocably alter a child's future development.

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Research for this paper was supported by Grant No. MH 37938, NIMH, U.S. PHS. The writing was supported in part by Grant No. MH 17126 and MH 37940, NIMH, U.S. PHS. The authors wish to thank P. Chamberlain, M. Forgatch, and G. R. Patterson —and two unnamed reviewers —for their critiques of earlier drafts of this manuscript.

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Reid, J.B., Kavanagh, K. & Baldwin, D.V. Abusive parents' perceptions of child problem behaviors: An example of parental bias. J Abnorm Child Psychol 15, 457–466 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00916461

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00916461

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