Evaluation of the factor structure of the child-reported parenting questionnaire in the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth

Abstract

Background: The effect of parenting behaviours is important in child health and development research. This study evaluates three child-reported parenting behaviour scales (nurturance, rejection and monitoring) in the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY).

Data and methods: The sample consisted of two longitudinal cohorts (n = 1,164) who were interviewed at ages 10 to 11, 12 to 13, and 14 to 15. The factor structure of each scale was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis with weighted least squares estimation on polychoric correlation matrices.

Results: The 7-item NLSCY Parental Nurturance model appeared to be a good fit to the data for children aged 10 to 11 and 12 to 13, but not for those aged 14 to 15. The 7-item Parental Rejection model was not a good fit to the data across any of the three time points. The 5-item Parental Monitoring model was a good fit to the data across all three time points. Removal of one item from the nurturance and one item from the monitoring scale improved the fit to the data.

Interpretation: The revised models appeared to be useful in assessing parental nurturance and monitoring. The model for parental rejection was not confirmed for this sample of adolescents.