Development and Validation of the Pregnancy and Infant Orientation Questionnaire

Abstract

The purpose of this study was the construction, scaling, and scale validation of a self-report questionnaire assessing biographical information and motivation for pregnancy and infant care in men and women with disorders of sex development or other gender variations of potential clinical relevance. The overall design of the questionnaire and the initial item pool were derived from related clinical and research experience. Collection of pilot data and, where appropriate, scale construction (via principal components analyses) were based on Canadian convenience samples of heterosexual (HET) and non-HET men and women (N = 414). A sample of gender-dysphoric (GDYS) men and women (n = 45) was added for validity analysis. Validation of the resulting scales was based on the demonstration of expected scale differences between HET men and women, as well as between HET, non-HET, and GDYS men and between HET, non-HET, and GDYS women, and was successful with one exception. This study concludes that this new questionnaire, in addition to its descriptive sections, provides several distinct scales related to desires for child bearing and child rearing and has good psychometric properties.

This study was supported, in part, by the North American Task Force on Intersexuality (Ian A. Aaronson, M.D., chairman) and National Center for Research Resources U54 RR 01-9484. Earlier, partial versions of this article were presented as posters at the annual meetings of the International Academy of Sex Research in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (July 2006) and in Vancouver, Canada (August 2007). Patricia Connolly assisted in word processing.

Notes

Note. The response scale for each item is yes (1), unsure (2), or no (3).

Note. GDYS = gender dysphoric; HET = heterosexual; RCGQ–R = Recalled Childhood Gender Questionnaire–Revised.

^a Including Black, First Nations, Hispanic or Latino, and “other.”

^b After exclusion of scores on Item 4, “Play with infant/baby dolls,” to avoid content overlap with the Pregnancy and Infant Orientation Questionnaire scales; high scores = feminine.

^a Fatherly in the men's version.

^b Father in the men's version.

^c Paternal in the men's version.

Note. For each component, loadings in bold indicate the variables included in the respective subscale.

^a Fatherly in the men's version.

^b Father in the men's version.

^c Paternal in the men's version.

Note. For each component, loadings in bold indicate the variables included in the respective subscale.

Note. HET = heterosexual.

^a Effect size adjusted for age. Regression or weighted least squares regression adjusted for age.

***p < .001.

Note. HET = heterosexual; GDYS = gender dysphoric.

^a Effect size adjusted for age. Regression or weighted least squares regression adjusted for age.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note. HET = heterosexual; GDYS = gender dysphoric.

^a Effect size adjusted for age. Regression or weighted least squares regression adjusted for age.

*p ≤ .05. **p ≤ .01. ***p ≤ .001.