Abstract
Examining parent-child agreement for Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents is essential for informing the assessment of trauma-exposed children, yet no studies have examined this relationship using appropriate statistical techniques. Parent-child agreement for these disorders was examined by structured interview in a prospective study of assault and motor vehicle accident (MVA) child survivors, assessed at 2–4 weeks and 6 months post-trauma. Children were significantly more likely to meet criteria for ASD, as well as other ASD and PTSD symptom clusters, based on their own report than on their parent’s report. Parent-child agreement for ASD was poor (Cohen’s κ = −.04), but fair for PTSD (Cohen’s κ = .21). Agreement ranged widely for other emotional disorders (Cohen’s κ = −.07–.64), with generalised anxiety disorder found to have superior parent-child agreement (when assessed by phi coefficients) relative to ASD and PTSD. The findings support the need to directly interview children and adolescents, particularly for the early screening of posttraumatic stress, and suggest that other anxiety disorders may have a clearer presentation post-trauma.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.
Bolton, D., O’Ryan, D., Udwin, O., Boyle, S., & Yule, W. (2000). The long-term psychological effects of a disaster experienced in adolescence: II: General psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41, 513–523.
Bryant, B., Mayou, R., Wiggs, L., Ehlers, A., & Stores, G. (2004). Psychological consequences of road traffic accidents for children and their mothers. Psychological Medicine, 34, 335–346.
Bryant, R. A., & Harvey, A. G. (2000). Acute stress disorder: A handbook of theory, assessment, and treatment. Washington: American Psychological Association.
Bryant, R. A., Harvey, A. G., Dang, S. T., & Sackville, T. (1998). Assessing acute stress disorder: Psychometric properties of a structured clinical interview. Psychological Assessment, 10, 215–220.
Chemtob, C. M., Nakashima, J. P., & Hamada, R. S. (2002). Psychosocial intervention for postdisaster trauma symptoms in elementary school children: A controlled community field study. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 156, 211–216.
Choudhury, M. S., Pimentel, S. S., & Kendall, P. C. (2003). Childhood anxiety disorders: Parent-child (dis)agreement using a structured interview for the DSM-IV. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 957–964.
Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational Psychology Measures, 20, 37–46.
Comer, J. S., & Kendall, P. C. (2004). A symptom-level examination of parent-child agreement in the diagnosis of anxious youths. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43, 878–886.
Dibartolo, P. M., Albano, A. M., Barlow, D. H., & Heimberg, R. G. (1998). Cross-informant agreement in the assessment of social phobia in youth. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 213–220.
Dyb, G., Holen, A., Braenne, K., Indredavik, M. S., & Aarseth, J. (2003). Parent-child discrepancy in reporting children’s post-traumatic stress reactions after a traffic accident. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 57, 339–344.
Foley, D., Rutter, M., Pickles, A., Angold, A., Maes, H., Silberg, J., et al. (2004). Informant disagreement for separation anxiety disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43, 452–460.
Goenjian, A. K., Pynoos, R. S., Steinberg, A. M., Najarian, L. M., Asarnow, J. R., Karayan, I., et al. (1995). Psychiatric comorbidity in children after the 1988 earthquake in Armenia. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 1174–1184.
Grills, A. E., & Ollendick, T. H. (2003). Multiple informant agreement and the anxiety disorders interview schedule for parents and children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 30–40.
Grills, A. E., & Ollendick, T. H. (2002). Issues in parent-child agreement: The case of structured diagnostic interviews. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 5, 57–83.
Hayward, C., Varady, S., Albano, A. M., Thienemann, M., Henderson, L., & Schatzberg, A. F. (2000). Cognitive-behavioral group therapy for social phobia in female adolescents: Results of a pilot study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 721–726.
Kassam-Adams, N., & Winston, F. K. (2004). Predicting child PTSD: The relationship between acute stress disorder and PTSD in injured children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 43, 403–411.
La Greca, A., Silverman, W. K., Vernberg, E. M., & Prinstein, M. J. (1996). Symptoms of posttraumatic stress in children after Hurricane Andrew: A prospective study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 712–723.
Landis J. R., & Koch, G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159–174.
Mannuzza, S., Fyer, A. J., Martin, L. Y., Gallops, M. S., Endicott, J., Gorman, J., et al. (1989). Reliability of anxiety assessment. I. Diagnostic agreement. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 1093–1101.
McCloskey, L. A., & Walker, M. (2000). Posttraumatic stress in children exposed to family violence and single-event trauma. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 108–115.
McDermott, B. M., & Cvitanovich, A. (2000). Posttraumatic stress disorder and emotional problems in children following motor vehicle accidents: An extended case series. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34, 446–452.
Meiser-Stedman, R., Yule, W., Smith, P., Glucksman, E., & Dalgleish, T. (2005). Acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents involved in assaults and motor vehicle accidents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 1381–1383.
Mirza, K. A., Bhadrinath, B. R., Goodyer, I. M., & Gilmour, C. (1998). Post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents following road traffic accidents. British Journal of Psychiatry, 172, 443–447.
Mohlen, H., Parzer, P., Resch, F., & Brunner, R. (2005). Psychosocial support for war-traumatized child and adolescent refugees: Evaluation of a short-term treatment program. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 39, 81–87.
Phipps, S., Long, A., Hudson, M., & Rai, S. N. (2005). Symptoms of post-traumatic stress in children with cancer and their parents: Effects of informant and time from diagnosis. Pediatric Blood and Cancer, 45, 952–959.
Putnam, F. W., Helmers, K., & Trickett, P. K. (1993). Development, reliability, and validity of a child dissociation scale. Child Abuse and Neglect, 17, 731–741.
Pynoos, R. S., Frederick, C., Nader, K., Arroyo, W., Steinberg, A., Eth, S., et al. (1987). Life threat and posttraumatic stress in school-age children. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 1057–1063.
Pynoos, R. S., Goenjian, A., Tashjian, M., Karakashian, M., Manjikian, R., Manoukian, G., et al. (1993). Post-traumatic stress reactions in children after the 1988 Armenian earthquake. British Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 239–247.
Rapee, R. M., Barrett, P. M., Dadds, M. R., & Evans, L. (1994). Reliability of the DSM-III-R childhood anxiety disorders using structured interview: Interrater and parent-child agreement. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 33, 984–992.
Saxe, G., Chawla, N., Stoddard, F., Kassam-Adams, N., Courtney, D., Cunningham, K., et al. (2003). Child Stress Disorders Checklist: A measure of ASD and PTSD in children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 972–978.
Schreier, H., Ladakakos, C., Morabito, D., Chapman, L., & Knudson, M. M. (2005). Posttraumatic stress symptoms in children after mild to moderate pediatric trauma: A longitudinal examination of symptom prevalence, correlates, and parent-child symptom reporting. Journal of Trauma, 58, 353–363.
Shemesh, E., Newcorn, J. H., Rockmore, L., Shneider, B. L., Emre, S., Gelb, B. D., et al. (2005). Comparison of parent and child reports of emotional trauma symptoms in pediatric outpatient settings. Pediatrics, 115, e582–e589.
Silverman, W. K., & Albano, A. M. (1996). Anxiety disorder interview schedule for DSM-IV: Child and parent interview schedule. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.
Silverman, W. K., Saavedra, L. M., & Pina, A. A. (2001). Test-retest reliability of anxiety symptoms and diagnoses with the anxiety disorders interview schedule for DSM-IV: Child and parent versions. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 937–944.
Smith, P., Dyregrov, A., Yule, W., Perrin, S., Gjestad, R., & Gupta, L. (2000). Children and war: Teaching recovery techniques. Bergen, Norway: Foundation for Children and War.
Spence, S. H., Donovan, C., & Brechman-Toussaint, M. (2000). The treatment of childhood social phobia: The effectiveness of a social skills training-based, cognitive-behavioural intervention, with and without parental involvement. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 713–726.
Stallard, P., Salter, E., & Velleman, R. (2004). Posttraumatic stress disorder following road traffic accidents—A second prospective study. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 13, 172–178.
Stallard, P., Velleman, R., & Baldwin, S. (1998). Prospective study of post-traumatic stress disorder in children involved in road traffic accidents. British Medical Journal, 317, 1619–1623.
Stein, B. D., Jaycox, L. H., Kataoka, S. H., Wong, M., Tu, W., Elliott, M. N., et al. (2003). A mental health intervention for schoolchildren exposed to violence: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 290, 603–611.
Stoppelbein, L., & Greening, L. (2000). Posttraumatic stress symptoms in parentally bereaved children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 1112–1119.
Thabet, A. A., Abed, Y., & Vostanis, P. (2004). Comorbidity of PTSD and depression among refugee children during war conflict. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 533–542.
Vogel, J. M., & Vernberg, E. M. (1993). Childrens Psychological Responses to Disasters. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 22, 464–484.
Yule, W., & Williams, R. (1990). Post-traumatic stress reactions in children. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3, 279–295.
Yule, W., Perrin, S., & Smith, P. (1999). Post-traumatic stress disorders in children and adolescents. In W. Yule (Ed.), Post-traumatic stress disorders: Concepts and therapy (pp. 25–50). New York, NY, US: Wiley.
Acknowledgments
Supported in part by a Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom (UKMRC) Research Studentship (G78/6730) and a Peggy Pollak Fellowship from the Psychiatry Research Trust (Dr Meiser-Stedman); the UKMRC (Dr. Dalgleish); and a Kraupl Taylor Fellowship from the Psychiatry Research Trust (Dr. Smith). The authors thank Nicola Leete and other staff at King’s College Hospital, London, for support in recruiting participants and Dr. Sean Perrin for training given to Dr. Meiser-Stedman. We are grateful for the comments of three anonymous reviewers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Meiser-Stedman, R., Smith, P., Glucksman, E. et al. Parent and Child Agreement for Acute Stress Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other Psychopathology in a Prospective Study of Children and Adolescents Exposed to Single-Event Trauma. J Abnorm Child Psychol 35, 191–201 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-006-9068-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-006-9068-1