Bigger Families Fare Better: A Novel Method to Estimate Rater Contrast Effects in Parental Ratings on ADHD Symptoms

Many twin studies on parental ratings of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms report low or negative DZ correlations. The observed differences in MZ and DZ variances indicate sibling contrast effects, which appear to reflect a bias in parent ratings. Knowledge of the factors that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavior genetics 2012-11, Vol.42 (6), p.875-885
Main Authors: Pinto, R., Rijsdijk, F., Frazier-Wood, A. C., Asherson, P., Kuntsi, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - diagnosis
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - genetics
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Behavior
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Bias
Child
Child, Preschool
Clinical Psychology
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Estimates
Families & family life
Family Characteristics
Family size
Female
Gender
Health Psychology
Humans
Hyperactivity
Impulsivity
Indexing in process
Male
Observer Variation
Original Research
Parents
Psychology
Public Health
Quantitative genetics
Ratings & rankings
Sex Factors
Siblings
Symptoms
Twin studies
Twins
Twins, Dizygotic
Twins, Monozygotic
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Summary:Many twin studies on parental ratings of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms report low or negative DZ correlations. The observed differences in MZ and DZ variances indicate sibling contrast effects, which appear to reflect a bias in parent ratings. Knowledge of the factors that contribute to this rater contrast effect is, however, limited. Using parent-rated ADHD symptoms from the Twins’ Early Development Study and a novel application of a twin model, we explored a range of socio-demographic variables (ethnicity, socio-economic status, and family size), as potential contributors to contrast effects and their interactive effect with gender composition of twin pairs. Gender did moderate contrast effects but only in DZ opposite-sex twin pairs. Family size also showed a moderating effect on rater contrast effects, which was further modified by gender. We further observed an effect of rating scale, with the DSM-IV ADHD subscale of the Revised Conners’ Parent Rating Scale more resistant to contrast effects than shorter scales of ADHD symptoms. The improved identification of situations where the accuracy of the most common informant of childhood ADHD symptoms—parents—is compromised as a result of rater bias, might have implications for future research on ADHD.
ISSN:0001-8244
1573-3297
DOI:10.1007/s10519-012-9561-y