Argentine Scale on Perceptions of Relationships with Parents for Children 8–12 Years of Age

Abstract

The Argentinean Scale on Perceptions of Relationships with Parents (ASPRP) is a self-report psychometric instrument designed to evaluate how children, specifically those between 8 and 12 years of age, perceive the behavior and interaction styles of their mothers and fathers. Developed and validated within an Argentinean context, this 32-item scale measures five distinct factors of parent-child interaction: Acceptance, Strict Control, Accepted Control, Pathological Control, and Extreme Autonomy. The ASPRP is a valuable tool for developmental research, providing quantitative data on the subjective experience of parental behavior.

Keywords

Parental relationships, Parent-child interaction, Child development, Acceptance, Control, Autonomy, Buenos Aires, Psychometrics, Psychological assessment, Parenting styles.

Authors

Maria Cristina Richaud de Minzi (Richaud de Minzi, M.C.).

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Argentinean Scale on Perceptions of Relationships with Parents is to provide a standardized tool for assessing the subjective perception of parental behavior by pre-adolescents (children aged 8–12). Understanding these perceptions is crucial as they relate directly to the child’s development, coping mechanisms, and overall psychological adjustment.

The instrument is intended for use in clinical, developmental, and educational research settings, allowing professionals to quantify dimensions of parenting styles, such as warmth, strictness, and control levels, as experienced by the child, distinguishing between maternal and paternal relationships.

Construct

The ASPRP is a multidimensional instrument derived from established theoretical models of parental behavior, such as those initially proposed by Schaefer (1965). It operationalizes the child’s perception of the parent-child relationship into five distinct factors or constructs:

• Acceptance: Reflects the child’s perception of parental warmth, affection, support, and involvement (e.g., listening, showing pride).
• Accepted Control: Involves parental regulation that is perceived as reasonable, protective, and aimed at the child’s well-being, often involving explanations and concern for future outcomes.
• Strict Control: Measures rigid parental demands and insistence on compliance, often through explicit rules and chores.
• Pathological Control: Characterized by intrusive, manipulative, and psychologically controlling behaviors, such as guilt induction, excessive surveillance, or withdrawal of affection.
• Extreme Autonomy: Indicates a lack of parental involvement or supervision, allowing the child excessive freedom or indifference to misbehavior.

Validity

The scale demonstrates strong theoretical validity, as its structure is grounded in established psychological literature concerning the core dimensions of parental behavior (warmth/acceptance and control/autonomy). The development process involved adaptation and validation within the specific cultural context of Argentina, ensuring the relevance of the constructs for Latino families.

The consistent differentiation of items across the five proposed factors (Acceptance, Accepted Control, Strict Control, Pathological Control, and Extreme Autonomy) supports the scale’s structural validity, indicating that it effectively measures distinct, though related, aspects of the parent-child relationship as perceived by the child.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the ASPRP was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient in a sample of children and adolescents in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Richaud de Minzi, 2005). The reliability estimates ranged from 0.60 to 0.92, indicating acceptable to excellent internal consistency across the subscales.

Specific reliability scores for the five factors, assessed separately for maternal and paternal perceptions, are as follows:

• Acceptance: Mother 0.92; Father 0.89.
• Strict Control: Mother 0.81; Father 0.75.
• Accepted Control: Mother 0.75; Father 0.75.
• Pathological Control: Mother 0.72; Father 0.81.
• Extreme Autonomy: Mother 0.60; Father 0.60.

While the Extreme Autonomy subscales show the lowest reliability coefficients (0.60), these values are generally considered acceptable for research scales, and the majority of the factors demonstrate strong internal consistency (alphas > 0.70).

Factor Analysis

The scale employs a five-factor structure, which organizes the 32 items into dimensions covering various aspects of parental warmth and control. The items are answered twice—once regarding the mother and once regarding the father—to provide a comprehensive dyadic assessment. Scoring for each factor requires responses to a minimum of 75% of the items assigned to that factor.

The items are scored on a 3-point frequency scale:

• 1 = No
• 2 = Sometimes
• 3 = Yes

The distribution of items across the factors is detailed below, noting that Item 21 has distinct versions for mother and father, contributing to the slight difference in item counts for Accepted Control and Pathological Control:

• Acceptance (8 items): 1, 3, 8, 11, 17, 20, 26, 29 (for both parents).
• Accepted Control (6 items for father; 7 items for mother): 1, 4, 12, 18, 24, 32. Item 21 (mother version) is included only in the mother factor.
• Strict Control (3 items): 15, 22, 28 (for both parents).
• Pathological Control (10 items for father; 9 items for mother): 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 19, 25, 27, 30. Item 21 (father version) is included only in the father factor.
• Extreme Autonomy (5 items): 6, 7, 16, 23, 31 (for both parents).

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Likert-type scale; Parental Perception Inventory.

Format: 32 items, scored on a 3-point frequency scale (1 = No, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Yes).

Language Available: Spanish (original); English translation available in compendiums.

Population Group: Children and Pre-Adolescents.

Age Group: 8–12 years of age.

Population Details: Developed and validated using samples from Buenos Aires, Argentina, primarily targeting the perceptions of children toward their parents.

Test Methodology: The child responds to statements regarding the behavior of their mother and father separately. The scale yields scores for five factors related to perceived parental acceptance and control.

Keywords

Psychological assessment, Parental control, Parenting styles, Child psychology, Argentinean research, Richaud de Minzi, Family relations, Self-report measure.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was developed and its initial psychometric properties were documented around 2005–2007 (Richaud de Minzi). The instrument has been published in academic literature and included in resource compendiums for Latino families.

The instrument is publicly available in the publication “Latino Families and Youth: A Compendium of Assessment Tools,” pages 35-39. The original PDF can be accessed online here: http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=23171&Itemid

Reference’s

• Richaud de Minzi, M.C. (2007). Evaluación del afrontamiento en niños de 8 a 12 años [Assessment of coping in children age 8 to 12 years]. Revista Mejicana de Psicología, 23(2), 196-201.
• Schaefer, E. S. (1965). Children’s reports of parental behavior: An inventory. Child Development, 36(2), 413-424.

Items of the Argentinean Scale on Perceptions of Relationships with Parents for Children 8–12 Years of Age

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. My father/mother likes to talk with me and be with me most of the time.
2. My father/mother makes sure I get home on time.
3. My father/mother tells me that he/she loves me a great deal.
4. My father/mother wants to know at all times where I am and what I am doing.
5. My father/mother decides which friends I can have.
6. My father/mother does not much care if I misbehave.
7. My father/mother allows me to go out whenever I want.
8. My father/mother makes me feel that I am the most important person in their life.
9. My father/mother gets into my things.
10. My father/mother believes that punishing me is going to correct my poor behavior.
11. My father/mother always listens to what I say and think.
12. My father/mother always wants to know what I do at school and in my free time.
13. My father/mother always talks about the things they do for me and blames me because they have to do so much.
14. My father/mother wants to control everything that I do.
15. My father/mother cares when I do something that I shouldn’t do.
16. My father/mother allows me to do whatever I want.
17. My father/mother protects me when I am afraid.
18. My father/mother insists that I have to do everything he/she tells me.
19. My father/mother punishes me when I haven’t done anything wrong.
20. My father/mother often has long talks with me to explain the reasons for things.
21. My father says that if I really love him‚ I should behave well so as not to make his life miserable.
22. My mother says that if I really love her‚ I should behave well so as not to make her life miserable.
23. My father/mother insists that I do my chores.
24. If I insist‚ my father/mother gives in and says I can stay out later on weeknights.
25. My father/mother says that misbehaving is very serious and that I might have problems when I grow up.
26. My father/mother‚ if I do something he/she is upset about‚ stops speaking to me until I apologize.
27. My father/mother shows that he/she is proud of what I do.
28. My father/mother wants me to stay home so that they know what I am doing.
29. My father/mother makes me do what he/she tells me to do.
30. My father/mother is interested in what I do.
31. My father/mother‚ when I make a mistake‚ refuses to have anything to do with me until I find a way to reconcile with him/her.
32. My father/mother allows me to go out to play whenever I want.
33. My father/mother worries when I misbehave because I will suffer the consequences when I grow up.