Parent-child Discrepancies in Reporting Children’s Mental Health: Do Physical Custody Arrangements in Post-separation Families Matter?

Most analyses of children’s well-being in separated families are based on reports provided by parents. Thus, the question arises whether discrepancies between parents’ proxy reports and children’s self-reports exist and whether they impact explanatory models of children’s well-being. Since a family’...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child indicators research 2024-02, Vol.17 (1), p.197-220
Main Authors: Brocker, Sven Alexander, Steinbach, Anja, Augustijn, Lara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arrangements
Child & adolescent mental health
Child and School Psychology
Children
Children & youth
Conduct disorder
Discrepancies
Early Childhood Education
Families & family life
Family (Sociological Unit)
Health problems
Health status
Mental disorders
Mental health
Parent Child Relationship
Parent-child relations
Parents & parenting
Quality of Life Research
Respondents
Social Sciences
Social Work
Well being
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Summary:Most analyses of children’s well-being in separated families are based on reports provided by parents. Thus, the question arises whether discrepancies between parents’ proxy reports and children’s self-reports exist and whether they impact explanatory models of children’s well-being. Since a family’s physical custody arrangement could systematically affect parents’ ratings of their children’s mental health, and this association has not been examined before, this study investigates parent-child discrepancies in reporting children’s mental health problems in separated families with different physical custody arrangements. Drawing on data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), multinomial logistic regression and multilevel mixed-effects models were estimated for 786 parent-child dyads nested in 622 families with children between the ages of 9 and 17. To measure children’s mental health, we used two subscales (emotional and conduct problems) of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The findings suggested that the relationship between physical custody arrangements and children’s mental health differs depending on whether the children’s or the parents’ data are used. Physical custody arrangements and informant discrepancies were not associated. Parents’ mental health and the quality of parent-child relationships appear more relevant in understanding informant discrepancies than physical custody arrangements.
ISSN:1874-897X
1874-8988
DOI:10.1007/s12187-023-10083-5