NCJ Number
175645
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: Summer 1998 Pages: 131-147
Date Published
1998
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article compares mother, teacher, and child ratings of depressive symptoms in maltreated and nonmaltreated children.
Abstract
When mother, teacher, and child ratings of depressive symptoms in maltreated and nonmaltreated children were compared, agreements between raters were generally low, with the highest correlations between mother and teacher ratings for maltreated boys and girls. Maltreated children were more likely than nonmaltreated children to be rated in the clinical range by mothers and teachers, but not by children themselves. Findings underscore the importance of multiple perspectives in evaluating children's depressive symptoms and the need to evaluate the degree of correspondence among multiple raters. Given that the correlations between raters differed to some extent by gender, analyses should look at boys and girls separately. In addition, maternal depressive symptomatology is an important factor to consider when using maternal ratings of children's adjustment. Tables, figures, references