ARE FATHERS AND MOTHERS SUITABLE TO JUDGE THEIR ADOLESCENTS PSYCHOPATHOLOGY - DISCREPANCIES IN COMPARISON WITH THE SELF-PERCEPTION OF ADOLESCENTS IN A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

This contribution presents the results of a four-year longitudinal stu dy examining the psychopathological symptoms of adolescents by their o wn judgment as well as their parents' statements. Our results show tha t adolescents generally name more psychological symptoms than both par ents, although mothers perceive a higher extent of psychopathology in their sons and daughters than fathers. Furthermore, correlations betwe en different raters prove that the parents' judgments about the adoles cents are highly inter-related, whereas only low agreement was found b etween the adolescents' own judgment, and their parents'. However, mot her-adolescent agreement was higher than father-adolescent agreement. As our results show, especially parents of male adolescents appear to have little insight into their sons' symptomatology. These findings ar e discussed in view of adolescents' altered willingness to self-disclo sure, as far as their parents are concerned.