Validating the Scale Measuring Dysfunctional Parenting with Hong Kong Adolescents
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Validating the Scale Measuring Dysfunctional Parenting with Hong Kong Adolescents Alex Yue Feng Zhu1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract Dysfunctional parenting in situations requiring discipline is an important issue in Hong Kong. However, few scales for measuring dysfunctional parenting have been validated in the local context. The current study validated, with a sample of Hong Kong adolescents, a dysfunctional parenting scale that has been widely adopted in the West. A total of 965 adolescent students (males 43.3%, mean age 14.6, and range 12–18) were recruited for this study. Principal component analysis with varimax rotations and Tucker’s congruence coefficient were adopted to examine the factor structure of the scale and its stability. Cronbach’s alpha and correlation analysis were used to assess the internal consistency and the convergent and divergent validity of the scale and of each subscale identified. Three stable factors (laxness, overreactivity, and verbosity) were extracted, and their individual items demonstrated good internal consistency. The convergent and divergent validity of the scale (and subscales) were confirmed by its positive association with the material hardship of the families, the parental stress, and the antisocial behavior of the adolescents, their haughtiness and loneliness, and by its negative association with the adolescents’ social skills. Unlike previous studies that investigated parents’ rearing of young children, where verbosity was not detected as a significant factor, in adolescents, verbosity was detected as a factor affecting discipline. For adolescents in Hong Kong, verbosity is shown to be a dysfunctional parenting behavior; this is also true of Western adolescents but differs from traditional Chinese cultural beliefs. Keywords Dysfunctional parenting · Hong Kong adolescents · Laxness · Overreactivity · Scale validation · Verbosity
Introduction Dysfunctional parenting in situations requiring discipline is conceptualized as parenting that is inconsistent, harsh, or excessively permissive. These styles of parenting can be operationally measured as laxness, overreactivity, and verbosity (Arnold, O’Leary, Wolff, & Acker, 1993). Lax parenting refers to parental responses to the misconduct of children that are inconsistent or lazy, for example, giving up on principles and requesting reconciliation. Overreactive parenting is broadly defined as a harsh and angry approach a
The manuscript will not be submitted to elsewhere while under the review of Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal. * Alex Yue Feng Zhu [email protected] 1
Centre for Innovative Programmes for Adolescents and Families, Jockey Club Innovative Tower, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Hum, Hong Kong
parent may adopt in responding to their child’s misconduct; it includes verbal responses such as screaming or non-verbal responses such as a push–pull conflict. Verbose parenting involves keeping on talking when responding to a behavior with which the pare
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