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Congruence of Parents’ and Children’s Perceptions of Parenting: A Meta-Analysis

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Abstract

Parents and children often report different perspectives about parents’ behaviors. Such lack of congruence is important because it may reflect problems in their relationship and may be associated with children’s maladjustment. We conducted a systematic, quantitative review of parent–child agreement and discrepancy about parenting behaviors, and potential moderators (e.g., children’s age, race, clinical status, family intactness) of the extent of mother–child and father–child congruence. The meta-analyses included 85 studies with 476 effect sizes of the degree of agreement and discrepancy in parent–child reports of three parenting behaviors: Acceptance, Psychological Control, and Behavioral Control assessed with one of the most widely-used measures of parenting—the Children’s Report of Parental Behavior Inventory. Mother–child and father–child dyads exhibited significant but modest levels of agreement (r) across parenting constructs. The amount and direction of discrepancy (Hedges’ g) varied by the parenting construct and parents’ sex. Overall, parents’ reports were more favorable than their children’s report about the parents’ behaviors. Significant associations were found between the magnitude of agreement/discrepancy and children’s age, race, clinical status, and family intactness. Moderators differed by parenting construct, parents’ sex, and type of effect size. Implications of these findings for researchers and clinicians are discussed and highlight the need for further research about the meaning of parent–child incongruence, its relation to children’s psychopathology, and interventions for reducing it.

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Notes

  1. Consistent with the literature, throughout this review the term “congruence” refers broadly to the relation between parents’ and children’s reports; “agreement” or “correspondence” refers to the Pearson correlation between parents’ and children’s reports; “discrepancy” refers to the mean difference between parents’ and children’s reports.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Lydia Apostoluk, Jessica Beyer, Alexa Curhan, Ellen Hart, Karen Sova, and Qiongru Yu for their assistance with obtaining, reviewing, and coding the articles. We also acknowledge the support of a training grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH18921).

Authors’ Contribution

Both authors (K. K. and J. G.) made substantive intellectual contributions to this paper in terms of its conception and design, review of the data, and analysis and interpretation of data. Both authors were involved in drafting and revising the manuscript. K. K. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination and wrote the first draft of the manuscript; J. G. participated in the design and interpretation of the data, and helped edit and revise the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported in part by a training grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH18921).

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  1. Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 0552 Peabody, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203-5721, USA

    Katherine E. Korelitz & Judy Garber

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  1. Katherine E. Korelitz
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Correspondence to Judy Garber.

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Korelitz, K.E., Garber, J. Congruence of Parents’ and Children’s Perceptions of Parenting: A Meta-Analysis. J Youth Adolescence 45, 1973–1995 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0524-0

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