Psychometric Support for a New Measure of Authoritative, Authoritarian, and Permissive Parenting Practices: Cross-Cultural Connections.

This study examined the psychometric characteristics of a 62-item parenting questionnaire completed by parents from the United States, Australia, China, and Russia. Factor analyses yielded three global parenting dimensions for each culture which were consistent with D. Baumrind's (1971) authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive typologies. The global parenting dimensions were subsequently analyzed to assess their internal structures. For each of the three global dimensions, a number of specific parenting practice factors were identified and compared cross-culturally. The internal factors for the authoritative style were: (1) warmth and involvement; (2) reasoning/induction; (3) democratic participation; and (4) good natured/easy going. The factors for the authoritarian style were: (1) verbal hostility; (2) corporal punishment; (3) non-reasoning, punitive strategies; and (4) directiveness. The factors for the permissive style were: (1) follow through; (2) ignoring misbehavior; (3) and self-confidence. Quite similar parenting practice factors were found for authoritative parenting across cultures; for authoritarian and permissive styles there were substantial cross-cultural differences among the specific parenting practices. Factor scores of the global parenting styles and specific practices were correlated with preschool behavioral problem outcomes to assess the validity of the instrument's cross-cultural use. For the United States and Australian families, mother and father authoritativeness and authoritarianism were related to child preschool behavioral problem outcomes. (KDFB) U.S. DEPARTMENT OP EDUCATION Office o Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) )(This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction duality Points of view or opinions stated in t his document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Psychometric Support for a New Measure of Authoritative, Authoritarian, and Permissive Parenting Practices: Cross-Cultural Connections Clyde C. Robinson, Craig H. Hart, Barbara L. Mandleco, Susanne F. Olsen Department of Family Sciences Brigham Young University Provo, Utah, USA Alan Russell School of Education The Hinders University of South Australia Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Valerie Aloa University of South Australia Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Shenghuq Jin Department of Psychology Beijing Normal University Beijing, China David A. Nelson Division of Human Development and Family Sciences University of Illinois Urbana, Illinois, USA Nina Bazarskaya Department of Foreign Languages Voronezh Forestry Institute Voronezh, Russia PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY C t1/40 ea C. x\SQYN TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Paper Presented in Symposium: New Measures of Parental Child-Rearing Practices Developed in Different Cultural Contexts, XI Vth Biennial International Society For the Study of Behavioral Development Conference, Quebec City, Canada, August 12-16, 1996 A comprehensive paper is currently being prepared that includes additional components of parenting practices, family interactions, and childhood behavior in these cultures. Interested readers can request a preprint from the first author who will distribute copies upon acceptance for publication.