Davies, Janet E. (2010) What Would Parents Know? The Predictive Validity of Self-Reports Versus Parent-Reports. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Parents consult with schools on how to help their children succeed but schools rarely consult with parents, even though parents are arguably the best experts on their children’s feelings and abilities. Literature on the subject of self- and other-reporting leaves a gap on the topic of parent-reporting of child variables such as personality, life satisfaction, and feelings as research has predominantly used convenience sampling of university students or adults. This study used archival data collected by the Educational Testing Service as part of a longitudinal study that asked 383 male and female adolescents (M = 13.2 years) and their parents from five major US cities to report on the adolescent’s feelings about school, life satisfaction, and conscientiousness. Data collection was for the purpose of developing new testing materials, and questionnaires used are commercial-in-confidence, with the exception of the Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale (Heubner, 1991). Using correlation and multiple regression, results showed self- and parent-reports to be equally associated with academic outcome (GPA) when measuring life satisfaction (average r = .22), effort (average r = .53), competitiveness (average r = .20), and negative school feelings (average r = .21). Parent-ratings, rather than self-ratings, of positive school feelings were associated with GPA (average r = .30). Significant predictors of academic outcome were parent ratings of effort (β = .48) and competitiveness (β = - .15), and self-ratings of effort (β = .33). Results show that parent-reports have greater predictive validity than adolescents’ self-reports on these measures, indicating the utility of sources of information other than self-reports by adolescents
|
Statistics for this ePrint Item |
| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Fogarty, Gerry |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Psychology) |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Jan 2026 03:29 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Jan 2026 03:29 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52253 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Archive Repository Staff Only |
