Original Articles
Parent–youth concordance regarding violence exposure: relationship to youth psychosocial functioning

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(99)00102-0Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the relationship between parent–youth concordance with regard to youth exposures to violence and youth psychosocial functioning, including perpetration of violence, distress symptomatology, and social skillfulness.

Methods: A battery of self-report questionnaires were completed by 333 parent–youth dyads residing in urban public housing developments. Concordance status (<50%, 50–80%, and >80%) was based on dyad agreement regarding youth’s violence exposures. The relationship between concordance and psychosocial factors was assessed by a series of analyses of covariance tests.

Results: Parents underestimated the extent to which their children were victims of or witnesses to violence and suffered from distress symptoms. Low concordance status was associated with youth perpetration of violence and distress symptomatology, as well as lower self-esteem and problem-solving skillfulness. Youth in the low concordance group characterized their families as exhibiting less involvement, open communication, and parental monitoring.

Conclusions: Concordance between parents and youth is associated with youth psychosocial competence and strong family functioning. Findings underscore the need to incorporate a parent component in primary and secondary violence-prevention programs. Further examination of the processes which contribute to concordance may enhance our ability to prevent youth engagement in violence and its untoward psychosocial sequelae.

Section snippets

Sample selection

The study was an observational survey using baseline data gathered between December 1995 and February 1996 on youth who were recruited to participate in a randomized, controlled, community-based violence-prevention effectiveness trial. Participants were 349 adolescents (96% African-American) between the ages of 9 and 15 years, along with one of their parents or caregivers, who resided in any 1 of 10 low-income public housing developments in a East Coast city. Their median age was 12 years old

Results

Although 349 parent–youth dyads agreed to join the study, only 333 dyads had sufficient data necessary to perform the concordance analyses. Eighty-seven (26%) parent–youth dyads were assigned to the low concordance group (< 50% agreement), 186 (56%) dyads were assigned to the moderate concordance group (50–80% agreement), while 60 (18%) were in the high concordance group (< 80% agreement). As shown in Table 2, there was a significant gender effect across the three concordance groups (p ≤ .01).

Discussion

Overall, parents of African-American youth residing in urban public housing developments tended to underestimate the extent to which their children were both exposed to acts of violence and suffered from distress symptomatology. This was seen for acts of direct victimization (i.e., attacked with a knife), as well as events youth witnessed. Most striking was the tendency for parents to underestimate youth distress. Rather than being a new finding, this proclivity for parents to underreport

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the entire Neighborhoods in Action (NIA) team, without whose efforts this research would not have been possible, including Bonita Stanton, Izabel Ricardo, Linda Kaljee, Laura Rachuba, Hibist Astatke, Jennifer Galbraith, George Cornick, Carmen Nieves, and Juanita Morris. They also thank the parents, youth, and public housing staff who participated in the NIA project. Support for this research was provided by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research

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