Parent-Adolescent Informant Discrepancies and Clinician Alignment: Implications for the Assessment of Adolescent Social Anxiety Disorder

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The present study had the following aims: 1) Evaluate the degree of discrepancy between parents and their adolescents when reporting social anxiety; 2) Determine if reporting discrepancies between parents and adolescents predict social anxiety severity and impairment ratings following treatment and; 3) Assess if clinician-rated social anxiety severity more strongly aligns with parent- or adolescent-reported social anxiety. Participants included 58 adolescents (12–16 years of age; Mage = 14.29, SD = 1.30; 70.7% female) who participated in a randomized clinical trial. Participants and their parents separately completed the diagnostic interview and self-report measures regarding social anxiety. Results indicate significant parent-adolescent discrepancies regarding the adolescent’s social anxiety; however, parent and adolescent discrepancies were lower on specific feared social situations. Additionally, results demonstrate that correspondence in parent-adolescent reporting was associated with improved treatment outcomes. Lastly, results indicate that clinicians more strongly aligned themselves with parental report of social anxiety.