Factor Analysis of the Italian Version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire in a Community Sample

Abstract

Despite difficulties measuring parenting styles, many studies have demonstrated a significant relationship between disruptive children and certain parenting practices. One of the most frequently used scales to measure parenting styles is the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ). This scale was originally defined based on theoretical dimensions and using samples from the USA. Therefore, both factor analysis studies and its adaptation to other countries have been proposed to improve and widen its use. The aim of this study was to adapt the APQ to the Italian population. A community sample of 258 mothers and children (94 %) and 192 fathers (70 %) from 274 families with children from 10- to 14-years-old who agreed to participate and met the inclusion criteria completed the APQ. Principal components and exploratory factor analyses resulted in a unique 19-item version of the APQ for mothers, fathers, and children. This unified version has resulted in two factor categories: positive (12 items) and negative parenting (7 items). The internal consistency and goodness of fit of the model were satisfactory. Moderate and significant convergent validity were found for mothers and fathers but not for children. In fact, we found differences in validity rates among the participants. Children perceived less positive and more negative parenting than did fathers and mothers, and mothers believed that they provided more positive parenting than did other parents. In conclusion, the APQ Italian version of the parents and children global report forms are considered a suitable measure for positive and negative parenting styles with acceptable validity and reliability indice

Alabama Parenting Questionnaire—Short Form (APQ-9): Evidencing Construct Validity with Factor Analysis, CFA MTMM and Measurement Invariance in a Greek Sample

“…Additionally, three factors are consistent for APQ-42 validation studies (Hinshaw et al, 2000;Randolph & Radey, 2011;Zlomke et al, 2014;Molinuevo et al, 2011), except for Robert (2009) and Święcicka et al (2019) who extracted five factors and Zlomke et al (2014) who found four factors (see Maguin et al, 2016). However, interpreting these results is complicated by the variation of the allocation of the measured variables to factors (Maguin et al, 2016;Esposito et al, 2016). APQ-9 measurement invariance across child gender was evaluated in the total sample using the three-factor model as a baseline model.…”

“…However, previous work suggested a variety of structures with either 3, 4 or 5 factors (Adams, 2015;Maguin, et al, 2016), using mostly EFA (Essau et al 2006;Badahdah & Le, 2015), CFA (Święcicka et al, 2019) or ESEM (Maguin et al, 2016). More specifically, the APQ Child Global Report has a five-factor structure (Essau et al, 2006), whereas for the Parent Global Report a two, three or four-factor structure emerged (Hawes & Dadds, 2006;Hinshaw et al, 2000;Randolph & Radey, 2011;Molinuevo et al, 2011;Zlomke et al, 2014;Esposito et al, 2016;Maguin et al, 2016). Additionally, the APQ structure was also tested in single-parent family structures (Adams, 2015).…”

“…However, direct comparisons of the results are challenging due to wide variations in the items used in each study and in child ages of the samples (see also Maguin et al, 2016). APQ has been translated into at least 11 languages (Seabridge, 2012), including German (Essau et al, 2006), Spanish (Molinuevo et al, 2011), Italian (Esposito et al, 2016) Chinese, Arabic (Badahdah & Le, 2015), Ukrainian (Burlaka et al, 2017) and Polish (Święcicka et al, 2019). The APQ-preschool version has been also tested in a sample of hyperactive-inattentive preschool children and controls and three factors emerged (Clerkin et al 2007;de la Osa et al, 2014).…”

Confirmation of the five-factor structure of the Parent Global Report version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire in a Polish community sample

“…The APQ has been used in various countries outside the United States, such as: Australia (Dadds et al 2003), Germany (Essau et al 2006), Spain (Molinuevo et al 2011); and Italy (Esposito et al 2016). Various adaptations to different countries, languages and age groups (Clerkin et al 2007;Dadds et al 2003;de la Olsa et al 2014;Esposito et al 2016;Essau et al 2006;Molinuevo et al 2011) have revealed that this measure is characterized by acceptable or good reliability and validity.…”

“…The APQ has been used in various countries outside the United States, such as: Australia (Dadds et al 2003), Germany (Essau et al 2006), Spain (Molinuevo et al 2011); and Italy (Esposito et al 2016). Various adaptations to different countries, languages and age groups (Clerkin et al 2007;Dadds et al 2003;de la Olsa et al 2014;Esposito et al 2016;Essau et al 2006;Molinuevo et al 2011) have revealed that this measure is characterized by acceptable or good reliability and validity. Previous studies have used exploratory factor analysis to investigate the factor structure of the APQ and one of these studies (Essau et al 2006) found that the Child Global Report version of the APQ has a five-factor structure, whereas other demonstrated that the Parent Global Report version of the APQ has a two, three or four-factor structure (Esposito et al 2016;Molinuevo et al 2011;Zlomke et al 2014).…”