Mother-child reporting discrepancies of child physical abuse: Associations with internalizing and externalizing symptoms

Abstract

Background: Mother-child discrepancies frequently occur in reports of child physical abuse. Such report discrepancies raise important challenges for interpreting and integrating data from multiple informants in forensic and clinical settings.

Objectives: The main goal of this study was to identify patterns of mother-child discrepancies in reporting CPA using latent profile analysis. We then tested differences between profiles on mothers' mental health problems and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Participants and setting: Participants were 159 mother-child dyads with police-documented exposure to intimate partner violence.

Method: Participants were recruited from Child Protective Services and shelter residences from all regions of Portugal. After obtaining informed consent, assessment protocols were administered separately to mothers and children.

Results: We identified two convergent profiles (mother-child agreement on reports of both high and low exposure to CPA) and one divergent profile (the child reported significantly higher exposure to CPA than the mother). Mothers from the divergent profile reported more depressive and post-traumatic stress symptoms than mothers from the convergent profiles. Children of the divergent profile and one of the convergent profiles (mother-child agreement on high exposure to CPA) showed the highest internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Conclusions: These results illustrate how examining informant discrepancies in the assessment of abusive parenting practices increases our understanding of children's psychological adjustment in high-risk contexts.

Keywords: Child maltreatment; Child physical abuse; Externalizing symptoms; Informant discrepancies; Internalizing symptoms; Self-report measures.