Assessment of the Familial Relationships of Young Adult Children of Separated Parents

Abstract

The aim of this work was the psychometric study of six scales designed to assess the familial relationships of young adult children of separated parents. The analyzed constructs are interparental conflict, loyalty conflict, coalition, parentification, children's perceptions of the parent–child relationships, and young adult perception of the separation–individuation process. Internal consistency and factorial validity was studied through a sample of 535 Spanish young adults from disrupted and nondisrupted families who were between 20 and 30 years old. The confirmatory factor analyses showed a certain acceptability of the original structures of all scales, with Bentler–Bonett Nonnormed Fit Index, Bentler–Bonett Normed Fit Index, and comparative fit indexes above .90 in all cases, and root mean square error of approximation below .05 in the multifactorial scales and slightly higher in the unifactorial ones. The internal consistency values were between .89 and .94 in the unifactorial scales, and between .70 and .92 in the multifactorial ones. The estimations found for the factor saturation supported the acceptability of the original structures. It is concluded that all the scales within this set present acceptable properties, in terms of dimensionality and internal consistency. The limitations are pointed out.

Keywords:

• interparental conflict
• parent–child relationships
• parental divorce
• parentification
• separation individuation
• triangulation
• young adults

This research was partly supported by a grant from the Departament d'Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació de la Generalitat de Catalunya and from the European Social Fund.

Notes

1. We use this term to refer to both divorce cases and permanent separations.