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

Abstract

Since parenting practices have been shown to play an important role in the development of a child’s emotional, cognitive and social functioning, it is important to reliably measure this construct across various cultures and countries. A widely used instrument to assess parenting practices is the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ). However, no previous studies have verified the five-factor structure of this measure using confirmatory factor analysis. The aim of this study was to verify factor structure and examine psychometric properties of the Parent Global Report version of the APQ in a Polish sample. A total of 911 mothers and 497 fathers of children in the age range of 6–13 years from the community sample completed the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire as well as the Rating Scales for Parents assessing symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the five-factor model is characterized by a good fit in the Polish sample of mothers and quite a good fit in the sample of fathers. The Polish version of the APQ has a good construct validity. Children’s ODD symptoms were positively correlated with negative parenting practices and negatively with positive parenting practices. Children’s ADHD symptoms were the most strongly correlated with the inconsistent discipline subscale. Relations between ADHD and ODD symptoms and positive parenting practices were lower than with negative parenting practices. Our study confirms the five-factor structure of the Polish version of the APQ for parents and shows that parenting practices can be reliably measured in a Polish sample with the use of the Parent Global Report version of the APQ.