Concordance in Child-Parent Reporting of Social Victimization Experiences in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate child-parent concordance in reporting social victimization experiences and whether concor-dance was associated with child behavioral symptoms.METHODS: This was an observational study with data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. The analytic sample was 11,235 9-or 10-year-old children from the United States. Exposure variables were demographic and protective factors (child perceptions of parental relationships, school pro-tective factors, neighborhood safety). The outcome was par-ent-child concordance on 6 domains of child social victimization: conventional crime, peer victimization, witness-ing violence, internet victimization, school victimization, and gun violence. Child behavior symptoms were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist.RESULTS: Exposure to social victimization was low (9% of the sample). Concordance ranged from 18% to 50%. The high-est levels of concordance were observed for conventional crime (k = 0.48, P < .001) and witnessing violence (k = 0.48, P < .001). Parents' perceptions of greater neighborhood safety was associated with lower odds of concordant conventional crime (odds ratio [OR] = 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.86-0.99) and witnessing violence (OR = 0.92, 95% CI0.84 -0.99). Concordance was associated with more internalizing/ externalizing behaviors.CONCLUSIONS: Parents under-report social victimization in relation to children. Concordance in reporting social victimiza-tion may be an indicator of the severity of experiences, under-scoring the need to consider child reports when screening for adversity.

Automated summary

This study investigated the concordance between children and parents in reporting social victimization experiences, and found that concordance was associated with child behavioral symptoms. Child behavioral symptoms were related to factors such as family and school environment. Parents generally under-reported children's social victimization experiences, and concordance may serve as an indicator of the severity of experiences.