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Parent-Proxy Versus Teen Self-Report: Methods and Results (303153)
*Meredith Massey, National Center for Health StatisticsKeywords: proxy respondents
Who should answer questions about teen disability: teens or their parents? Parents are generally viewed as suitable proxies for their children since children may have difficulty answering questions due to age, illness, disability or literacy and because it is the parents who most often seek medical care and support services for their children. Therefore, many surveys that measure disability prevalence are designed to be administered to parents. However, older children, teens in particular, may be better able to evaluate their own difficulties especially in domains that are focused on internal processes such as memory or emotions. This paper will describe the methods used to examine the differences in the ways teens and parents answer and interpret questions on child disability. Specifically, we will examine a cognitive interview study testing the UNICEF/Washington Group on Disability Statistics Module on Child Functioning and Disability.
Additionally, the results of this study will be presented. Data was collected from 40 parent-teen dyads (n=80). Overall, parents and teens answered similarly. However, it was seen that the dyads were more closely aligned in their evaluation of questions that asked about externally observable phenomena rather than those that asked about internal processes. Some discordance in teens’ and parents’ responses was a result of their different interpretations of the items, but there was some disagreement seen even when parents and teens interpreted items in the same way. In this presentation, we will outline the implications of these findings on the administration of surveys intended to collect measures on teens.