Parental Behaviors in the Context of Adolescent Disclosure (PBAD): Instrument Development

How do parents facilitate or inhibit adolescent disclosure? The role of adolescents’ psychological needs satisfaction

“…The current study complements the mentioned findings and generally refines the understanding of parent-adolescent dynamics by (a) using more contextually specific measures of perceived parental behaviors (Tokić Milaković & Pećnik, 2014), (b) adding the need for competence in addition to needs for relatedness and autonomy as potential mediators, (c) distinguishing between routine disclosure and more intimate selfdisclosure, and (d) accounting for parents' gender in the model.…”

“…For each item, adolescents were asked to assess how often their mother and father reacted to their disclosure in the described way. Factor analyses of the PBAD-A revealed three factors for both mothers and fathers (Tokić Milaković & Pećnik, 2014): initiating conversation (e.g., she/he tells me about daily happenings in her/his life; she/he asks me what’s new), intrusiveness (e.g., when she/he wants to find out something, she/he questions me until I tell), and unavailability (e.g., she/he’s in a hurry). Factor analyses of the PBAD-R yielded three factors: support and respectful guidance (e.g., she/he respects my opinion even if she/he disagrees), a let-down (e.g., she/he diminishes the importance of my problem), and punishment (e.g., she/he yells at me).…”

“…Cronbach’s αs for all factors were acceptable (.75–.92). The original items, results of the factor analyses, as well as predictive and construct validity assessment results are available elsewhere (Tokić Milaković & Pećnik, 2014).…”

“…In addition to the results of the quantitative studies reported above, a focus group study with adolescents (Tokić & Pećnik, 2011) revealed four broad categories of parental behaviors specifically involved in the context of adolescents’ disclosure to parents: inviters (e.g., asking unobtrusive questions, inviting unconditional disclosure, parental self-disclosure, positive affective state), inhibitors (e.g., unavailability, intrusive questioning), positive reactions to disclosure (e.g., emphatic understanding, attentive listening, constructive feedback, calm reaction, negotiating), and negative reactions to disclosure (e.g., punishment, anger and yelling, silent treatment, showing mistrust, lack of understanding). On this basis, an instrument for measuring parental behaviors in the context of adolescent disclosure ( PBAD ) was developed (Tokić Milaković & Pećnik, 2014). It consists of three factors representing antecedents of disclosure: initiating conversation , intrusiveness , and unavailability , and three factors representing parental reactions to adolescent disclosure: support and respectful guidance , a let-down , and punishment.…”

“…It consists of three factors representing antecedents of disclosure: initiating conversation , intrusiveness , and unavailability , and three factors representing parental reactions to adolescent disclosure: support and respectful guidance , a let-down , and punishment. All factors, except fathers’ intrusiveness, significantly correlate with reported disclosure to mothers and fathers (Tokić Milaković & Pećnik, 2014). These two studies contributed to the existing literature by introducing some disclosure-relevant parental behaviors that had not previously been linked to adolescent disclosure (e.g., unavailability, respectful guidance, a let-down) and by providing a contextually specific framework to organize parental behaviors relevant in the process through which adolescent disclosure is being facilitated or inhibited.…”