Children's behavioural/emotional problems: a comparison of parents' and teachers' reports for elementary school-aged children

This study assessed the agreement between parents and teachers concerning b ehavioural/emotional symptoms of children. 5671 children born in 1981 (mean age 8.5 years at the time of study) were studied using the Rutter Parent Q uestionnaire (RA2) and the Rutter Teacher Questionnaire (RB2). Boys had mor e behavioural symptoms on both scales, 3.6% of the boys and 2.3% of the gir ls were deviant on both scales. Agreement between parents and teachers on s ingle behaviours was better for deviant girls than for deviant boys. The fa ctors constructed from the Rutter scale items (separately of each scale) re presented externalising, internalising and hyperactivity behaviours. For al l children, moderate correlations between parents' and teachers' ratings we re found in externalising behaviour and hyperactivity. Correlations of the factors were clearly higher for deviant girls than for deviant boys. Scorin g high on one of the scales increased the probability of scoring high on th e second scale. The discussion focuses on factors that may affect agreement between parents and teachers when behavioural symptoms are assessed.