Psychological Symptoms in Youth and Later Socioeconomic Functioning: Do Associations Vary by Informant?

We examined whether associations between symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), depression, and anxiety assessed in a sample of 2,026 youth aged 6 to 16 years and socioeconomic functioning measured 18 years later varied as a function of whether parents or teachers had rated symptomatology. After accounting for confounding variables (e.g., family socioeconomic status in childhood), psychological symptoms explained 2.78% of the variability in adult socioeconomic status. Much of that variance was unique to teachers or parents (0.90% and 1.41%, respectively). Moreover, several informant-specific associations emerged: teacher-rated depression and parent-rated ADHD and ODD were significant predictors of later socioeconomic functioning. Overall, these findings provide further evidence that differences between informants are meaningful and support the utility of maintaining the unique perspective of each rater in analytic and measurement strategies.