DESARROLLO Y VALIDACIÓN DE LA ESCALA DE CREENCIAS SOBRE EL ROL PATERNO POSDIVORCIO EN PADRES COSTARRICENSES DIVORCIADOS

Abstract

This paper presents the "Scale of beliefs about the post-divorce parental role" (CRP-D for its Spanish acronym). It comprises 12 items to assess the father's beliefs about his post-divorce parental role. Two hundred Costa Rican divorced or separated fathers from Great Metropolitan Area of the country (known in Costa Rica as GAM for its Spanish acronym) participated in the study. Data showed that the instrument has a two-factor structure, distinguishing between two relatively independent beliefs of the father's role after the divorce: the economic role and the emotional role. Both subscales showed adequate internal consistency coefficients above .70. Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity support the usefulness of the scale to make inferences about two different roles: the scores on the emotional role subscale correlated positively with behavioral and attitudinal indicators of the affective relationship with children, while the economic role subscale was primarily associated with indicators of the father socioeconomic status. Possible applications of the scale in psychological research and intervention with post-divorce families are commented.

Keywords

• divorce
• parental roles
• family relationships
• Father's Role Scale