Mind the Gap: Parental Underestimation of Adolescent Difficulties and Its Association with Risk Behaviours

Giuliana Polo , Sapienza University of Rome
Alessandro Feraldi, La Sapienza Università di Roma

Adolescence is a key developmental stage in which multiple risk behaviours, such as smoking, substance use, antisocial conduct, and unsafe sex, often emerge and cluster, shaping long-term health and wellbeing trajectories. Parental awareness and monitoring are known protective factors against these behaviours, yet discrepancies between parent and adolescent perceptions of psychosocial difficulties remain underexplored as potential determinants. This study investigates how informant discrepancies in the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) are associated with adolescents’ engagement in risk behaviours. Using data from Sweep 7 of the Millennium Cohort Study (N = 7,265; age 17), we constructed a discrepancy measure by comparing self- and parent-reported SDQ total difficulties scores. Negative values indicate parental overreporting, while positive values indicate underreporting of adolescents’ difficulties. Descriptive analyses reveal that parental underreporting is more prevalent than overreporting. Preliminary findings suggest that adolescents whose parents underestimate their difficulties exhibit higher levels of risk behaviour. Subsequent analyses employ multiple regression models to examine associations between SDQ discrepancy categories and specific risk behaviours, controlling for sociodemographic and family characteristics. Further, subscale-level analyses assess whether discrepancies in reporting emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention or peer problems are particularly predictive of risky outcomes. By integrating multi-informant data, this study examines how underestimation and overestimation of adolescents’ difficulties may reflect limited parental knowledge, thereby contributing to the emergence and development of risky behaviours.

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 Presented in Session 29. Flash Session Child and Adolescent Health and Development