Systematic Differences in How Mothers Assess Their Children and Implications for Developmental Research

We examine agreeability between mothers and caregivers in their assessments of children’s non-cognitive development. We extend the standard agreeability framework and carefully consider systematic directional differences between mothers and caregivers across maternal subgroups. Minority mothers provide consistently more-favorable evaluations of their children than childcare providers. Holding race constant, mothers who raise their children outside of an intact family unit also provide more-favorable evaluations. These patterns in the data cannot be explained by any obvious source. We consider several possible explanations, and discuss research implications.