Concordance of parent-child temperament ratings in a clinical sample of adolescent girls

Fifty-six adolescents meeting DSM-III-R criteria for anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and major depression, were asked to complete self-assessments of temperament using the Dimensions of Temperament Survey-Revised (DOTS-R). Parents independently rated their children using a parent version of this scale. We found that parents and patients agreed significantly on all nine subscales. This high correlation suggests that parents' perceptions of their adolescents' temperaments concur with the adolescents' self-perceptions. These findings suggest that the observation of temperament remains concordant even in parent/child dyads often characterized by significant conflict.