Journal of Behavioral Assessment, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1982 Maternal Perception of Maladjustment in Clinic- Referred Children: An Extension of Earlier Research Rex Forehand, 1.2 Karen C. Wells, 3 Robert J. McMahon, 4 Douglas Griest, 1 and Tim Rogers ~ A ccepted for publication: January 18, 1982 The purpose of the present study was to extend earlier research examining predictors of maternal perceptions of maladjustment in clinic-referred children. Forty-five mothers and their clinic-referred children served as subjects. Maternal perceptions of chiM maladjustment were measured by the Parent Attitude Test. Maternal depression, marital adjustment, and family socioeconomic status were determined by the Beck Depression In- ventory, Locke Marital Adjustment Test, and Myers and Bean index of social status, respectively. Child compliance and child deviant behavior (other than noncompliance) were obtained in home observations collected by independent observers. The results indicated that maternal depression was the best predictor of maternal perception of children. The remaining variables failed to contribute to the multiple regression analyses. Separate analyses also were performed on males and females and different predictor variables emerged for the two groups. KEY WORDS: child compliance; child deviant behavior; maternal depression; maternal perception. The research reported in this study was supported by NIMH Grant 34193. 1Psychology Department, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602. 2To whom correspondence should he addressed at Children's Hospital, Department of Psy- chiatry, National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20010. 3National Children's Hospital. 4University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 145 0164~0305/82/0600-0145503.00/0 © 1982 Plenum Publishing Corporation