Building a composite factorial score for the assessment of quality of parent–child relationships in adolescence

Abstract

The quality of parent–child relationships has important implications for adolescent development and well-being. However, whereas numerous measures of specific dimensions contributing to quality of parent–child relationships are available, scales that provide a global assessment of this content are scarce. Consequently, the assessment of quality of parent–child relationships poses a challenge to the researcher, especially when the need exists to consider its main aspects but long instruments can not be used due to diverse circumstances. This paper presents a composite factorial score on quality of parent–child relationships developed from four short measures of affection, communication, parental knowledge and family satisfaction that can contribute to solving some of those difficulties. This composite score can be a useful tool to assess quality of parent–child relationships, especially for studies devoted to the study of the relationships between experiences within the family and the adolescent's well-being.

Keywords:

• Parent–child relationships
• Quality of family life
• Family
• Adolescence

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Irene García-Moya

The HBSC study in Spain has been funded by an agreement signed between the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality, and the University of Seville (Spain). In addition, this work is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education through the National Program FPU [grant number: AP2009–0978]