Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica (Jan 2006)
Parental Practices Scales (PPS): evaluating dimensions of parental practices towards adolescents / Escalas de Práticas Parentais (EPP): avaliando dimensões de práticas parentais em relação a adolescentes
Abstract
The aim of this study was to elaborate a self-report instrument to evaluate dimensions of parental educational practices concerning adolescents. The sample was composed of 409 adolescents (57,9% women, with an average age of 16,52 years old), from which 298 provided complete protocols. Initially, 62 items were generated to evaluate different dimensions of parental practices. The underlying structure present in the set of items was evaluated using principal components analysis. Repeated analysis allowed an interpretable solution of 6 components for a set of 27 items, considering items with factor loadings greater than 0.35 in just one component. The identified components are listed below, together with the respective Cronbach alpha value of the correspondent scales: punitive control (0.73), behavioral supervision (0.77), responsibility demandingness (0.70), intrusiveness (0.67), emotional support (0.89) and autonomy granting (0.76). Therefore, the results show that it is possible to empirically distinguish more specific parental educational practices than the responsiveness and demandingness dimensions that are tipically mentioned in the literature. Moreover, the scales show different correlational patterns when some psychosocial development indicators are considered, suggesting that the effects over the development are also distinct.
