People In My Life Questionnaire

Abstract

The People In My Life Questionnaire (PIMLQ) is a comprehensive Psychological Assessment tool designed to measure a child or adolescent’s perceptions regarding the quality and characteristics of their key Social Relationships and immediate social contexts. Developed or adapted for use in studies involving children with High-Incidence Disabilities (HID), the scale systematically assesses four critical domains: relationships with parents, relationships with friends/peers, experiences within the school environment, and perceptions of the neighborhood context. The instrument serves as a vital measure for understanding the environmental factors and Social Support systems that influence the adjustment and well-being of youth.

Keywords

People In My Life Questionnaire, PIMLQ, Social Relationships, Peer Relations, Parent-Child Relationship, School Climate, Neighborhood Safety, High-Incidence Disabilities, Adolescent Well-being, Contextual Assessment.

Authors

Christopher Murray, Mark T. Greenberg

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the People In My Life Questionnaire is to quantify the subjective experience of children and adolescents regarding the quality of their interactions and environments. Specifically, it aims to capture the degree of support, understanding, trust, and safety felt by the respondent across the four major ecological domains: home, peers, school, and community. By providing a structured measure of these contextual variables, the PIMLQ facilitates research into how proximal social contexts mediate outcomes, particularly for vulnerable populations such as students with high-incidence disabilities.

Construct

The PIMLQ measures the overarching construct of Contextual Quality and Perceived Social Support. This construct is operationalized through four distinct subscales, each addressing a critical socio-ecological domain relevant to Child Development and mental health. The scale includes items focused on both positive dimensions (e.g., acceptance, care, trust, helpfulness) and negative dimensions (e.g., anger, conflict, feeling scared, negative influence). The multidimensional nature of the scale allows researchers to isolate the impact of specific relationships (e.g., parental attachment) from broader environmental factors (e.g., school safety).

Validity

While the PIMLQ itself is an integrated instrument, its validity is strongly supported by its derivation from and conceptual alignment with established, standardized measures in psychological research, including the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), the Social Competence Rating Scale for Children (SCRSC), and the Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS). The items were carefully selected and adapted to demonstrate strong content validity relevant to the developmental needs and social challenges faced by youth, especially those with disabilities. Its successful application in peer-reviewed research examining the linkage between social context and outcomes provides evidence of its construct validity within relevant populations.

Reliability

As the PIMLQ integrates items from several established instruments, the individual subscales are expected to possess high levels of internal consistency. In the context of its use by Murray and Greenberg (2006), the instrument was employed to create reliable measures for the four key domains. Typically, measures of this type, when properly administered and analyzed, yield acceptable to strong Psychometrics properties, often demonstrated through Cronbach’s alpha coefficients exceeding 0.70 for the primary subscales (Parent Relationship, Peer Relationship, School Context, and Neighborhood Context). The extensive number of items dedicated to each domain enhances the stability and breadth of the measurement.

Factor Analysis

The structure of the People In My Life Questionnaire strongly suggests a hypothesized four-factor solution, corresponding directly to the four major sections of the instrument: Parent/Family Context (Items 1-21, excluding 12), Friend/Peer Context (Items 22-48), School Context (Items 49-71, excluding 65), and Neighborhood Context (Items 72-78). Empirical factor analysis would likely confirm these distinct but related factors, reflecting the distinct sources of Social Support and stress experienced by the respondent. Furthermore, the inclusion of items related to negative peer influence (e.g., skipping school, substance use) suggests the possibility of a distinct subfactor within the Peer Context domain.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Questionnaire / Psychological Assessment

Format: 76 items (original 78, with items 12 and 65 dropped in analysis) presented as statements requiring a response (likely a Likert-type scale, though not specified in the source).

Language Available: English (as presented in the source study).

Population Group: Children and Adolescents, specifically utilized in research focusing on youth with High-Incidence Disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, emotional disturbance).

Age Group: Typically used for middle childhood through adolescence (ages approximately 8-18), depending on the specific study context.

Population Details: The instrument was prominently used in a study focusing on the lives of children with high-incidence disabilities, suggesting its suitability for measuring social and environmental variables in clinical and special education populations.

Test Methodology: Standardized administration of a paper-and-pencil or digital questionnaire, completed by the youth respondent.

Keywords

Parental Attachment, Peer Influence, School Environment, Community Context, Emotional Adjustment, Behavioral Problems, Contextual Variables, Murray & Greenberg, High-Incidence Disabilities.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in the source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in the source material.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence should be directed toward the authors of the utilizing study: Christopher Murray and Mark T. Greenberg.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: Utilized and published in 2006 (Murray & Greenberg study).

Permissions & Fee: The specific instrument is detailed within an academic article. Users seeking to implement the scale should contact the primary authors (Murray and Greenberg) for permission, especially if using it for commercial or large-scale research purposes. As the instrument is derived from publicly cited scales, its use may require separate permission for those underlying components (IPPA, RCDS, etc.).

Reference’s

The PIMLQ was featured in the following seminal article. The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ758119.pdf

• Murray, C., & Greenberg, M. T. (2006). Examining the Importance of Social Relationships and Social Contexts in the Lives of Children With High-Incidence Disabilities. THE JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, 39(4), 220–233.

• Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA).

• Hightower, A. D., et al. (1986). Social Competence Rating Scale for Children (SCRSC).

• Reynolds, W. M. (1989). Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS).

• Greenberg, M. T., & Kusche, C. A. (1990). Seattle Personality Questionnaire for Children (SPQC).

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Items of the People In My Life Questionnaire

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

Note. Items 12 and 65 were dropped from these analyses and are not included here.