Explanation of cross-informant discrepancies regarding internalizing and externalizing problem behavior of children and adolescents

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Arnold Lohaus; Dr. Marc Vierhaus
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 251507016

This research project focusses on explaining dicrepancies which appear when parents and children are asked to report on children´s problem behavior. Contrary to most research, this project is based on a theoretical model which is partly inspired by the ABC Model (de los Reyes & Kazdin, 2005). This model emphasizes the interplay of factors affecting the judgment process and thus contribute to the different perspectives of informants. Beside causal attributions, these include perceived similarity between informants, subjective significance and gender typing of problematic behaviors as well as quality of parent-child relationship. Based on a theoretical discussion on the relevant constructs, the operationalized overall model should be tested longitudinally and cross-sectionally in a sample of 1200 children and adolescents of grades 5 to 9 and their parents. This study receives its innovative character by the fact that many individual explanatory variables whose isolated effects have been demonstrated in other studies are integrated into and simultaneously evaluated in an overall model.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants