Revisiting the accuracy hypothesis in families of young children with conduct problems

Revisited the accuracy hypothesis in an examination of the relation between maternal depressive symptomatology)l and child conduct problems. All data were gathered as part of the pretreatment assessment in an outcome study of families with clinic-referred children with conduct problems (age 3 to 6). The mothers varied in their depressive symptomatology, from not at all sym ptomatic to severely symptomatic. Correlations indicated that with increasi ng depressive symptomatology mothers (N = 97) displayed a higher rate of ph ysical negative behaviors towards their child and reported more child condu ct problems. Regression analyses revealed that at the lowest levels of mate rnal depressive symptomatology there was a discrepancy between mothers' rep orts of child behavior problems and child deviant behaviors observed during mother-child interaction. In contrast, at higher levels of depression, mot hers' reports of child behavior were consistent with laboratory observation s of their child's behaviour. These findings provide evidence to support th e accuracy hypothesis in reference to mothers who display a high degree of depressive symptomatology bur the results also call into question the valid ity of maternal report in families with children with conduct problems.