Parent- and self-ratings of anxiety in children with mental retardation: agreement levels and test-retest reliability.
For children with intellectual or developmental disabilities, child self-ratings of anxiety stay more stable than parent ratings, yet older youth may under-report—collect both and question large gaps.
01Research in Context
What this study did
LeSage et al. (1996) asked kids and parents to rate the child’s anxiety twice, two weeks apart.
The sample included children with mental retardation, developmental delay, and neurotypical peers.
They checked how well the two reports agreed and whether scores stayed stable over time.
What they found
Parent and child answers matched only “fair to good,” not great.
Kids gave more consistent answers across the two weeks than parents did.
Neurotypical children showed the steadiest scores; stability dropped for kids with disabilities.
How this fits with other research
Ozsivadjian et al. (2014) later showed that verbally-able youth with ASD can reliably fill out anxiety forms, extending the idea that self-report is usable in developmental disability.
Noordenbos et al. (2012) found the opposite pattern in high-functioning ASD teens: they under-report anxiety compared with parents and clinicians, so parent data remain essential.
Together the papers say: trust the child’s voice, but keep the parent lens—direction of disagreement changes by age and diagnosis.
Llanes et al. (2020) add that parents and teachers also diverge in young autistic children, so collecting three viewpoints gives the clearest picture.
Why it matters
When you assess anxiety in kids with ID or ASD, always collect both self and parent ratings. Expect the child’s numbers to stay steadier over time, but watch for under-reporting in older or higher-functioning youth. Use any big gaps as a cue to probe situational differences and to shape your intervention targets.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined fears in children with and without developmental disabilities. Children assigned to classes designed as developmentally handicapped (D), integrated (or mainstreamed) (I), and regular (R) were assessed. In all, 82 children were tested and retested over a 2-week interval. Self ratings and parent ratings were obtained. Three instruments were used to assess specific fears, social anxiety, social competence, and behavior problems: the Fear Survey Schedule for Children--Revised, the Social Anxiety Scale for Children, and the Child Behavior Rating Form. Correlations between parent and child ratings were fair to good. Child-parent agreement was nonsignificantly higher for children without disabilities and for children with mild handicaps integrated into regular education programs than for children in classes designated as Developmentally Handicapped. Children's test-retest reliabilities were generally higher than those of parents. Children without disabilities showed significantly higher consistency over time than children with disabilities.
Research in developmental disabilities, 1996 · doi:10.1016/0891-4222(95)00035-6