Psychologrcril Reports, 1995, 77, 819-830.

O Psychological Reports 1995

AUTHORITATIVE, AUTHORITARIAN, AND PERMISSIVE

PARENTING PRACTICES: DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW MEASURE '
CLYDE C. ROBINSON, BARBARA MANDLECO,
SUSANNE FROST OLSEN, AND CRAIG H. HART
Brigham Young Universitj

Surnmay.-A 133-item parenting questionnaire was completed by 1251 parents

of preschool and school-age children. Items in this measure were reduced using prin-
cipal axes factor analyses followed by varimax rotation. Three global parenting dimen-
sions emerged consistent with Baumrind's authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive
typologies. Internal consistency rehabhty was assessed with Cronbach alpha and ad-
ditional items were deleted. A 62-item instrument was retained, and the global parent-
ing dimensions were subsequently analyzed co assess their internal structures using
principal axes factor analyses followed by oblique rotation. For each of the three glo-
bal dimensions a number of specific factors were identified.

Baumrind's Contribution
Baumrind's (1971) authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive typolo-
gies are currently widely employed models of parenting styles. Baumrind
also conceptuahzed other types of parents including rejecting-neglecting, non-
conforming, authoritative nonconforming, authoritarian-rejecting-neglecting,
etc. Baumrind (1991) later discussed sex-role traditional as an additional
type of parent. For the purposes of this paper we address the three main
types of parenting styles commonly studied (authoritative, authoritarian, per-
missive). Over the past two decades, research in the United States based on
Baumrind's three major prototypes has yielded a consistent picture of the
types of parenting thought to enhance or mitigate the successful socialization
of middle-class children. For example, authoritative parenting style has been
shown to assist young children and adolescents develop instrumental compe-
tence which is characterized by psychosocial maturity, cooperation with peers
and adults, responsible independence, and academic success (for reviews, see
Baumrind, 197 1, 1989, 1991). Many methodological strategies currently used
to derive Baumrind's three main typologies are limited in many respects.
The purpose of this report is to introduce findings regarding a new measure
designed to assess empirically these typologies for parents of preschool and
school-age children.
Methodological Strategies and Limitations
Baurnrind's conceptualization encompasses parents' attitudes and values

'Requests for reprints should be sent to Clyde C. Robinson, Department of Family Sciences,
Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84604.
820 C. C. ROBINSON, E T A .

about parenting, their beliefs about the nature of children as well as the spe-
cific practices they employ to socialize their children. Baurnrind used a mul-
timethod approach to assess parenting styles that included parents' rating
scales, psychologists' Q-sorts, and behavioral observations. For research on
socialization, however, Baumrind's approach has several disadvantages. For
example, because observations and interviewing are extensive, fewer subjects
can be included in studies. In addition, the cost for the approach is high in
terms of special training required for data-gathering personnel and the time
required for collecting data.
A common strategy in assessing Baumrind's three main typologies has
been to obtain adolescents' reports of parents' parenting styles (e.g., Buri,
1991; Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts, & Fraleigh, 1987; Green-
berger, 1988; Steinberg, Elmen, & Mounts, 1989; Steinberg, Larnborn, Dorn-
busch, & Darling, 1992; Steinberg, Mounts, Lamborn, & Dornbusch, 1991).
These indirect parenting measures, completed by adolescents and used in as-
sessing adolescent outcomes, eliminate several disadvantages of Baumrind's
approach; however, these particular methods may be unsatisfactory for use
with younger children since they are designed particularly for adolescents
reporting on how they were parented and academic-related content is often
used in the questionnaire items.
Specifically, the challenge for preadolescent children is that they may
not assess accurately their parents' parenting practices. Thus, a widely used
parenting-practices instrument, developed for parents of young children, has
been Block's (1965) Child-rearing Practices Report, a 91-item Q-sort. Disad-
vantages of this report are that (a) it contains a large number of determined
factors (28 to 33) with moderate to low reliabhties, (b) it does not ade-
quately tap Baurnrind's typology, and (c) it is comprised of many items
which may be outdated or inconsistent with the current literature. Also,
items which tap the parental belief domain, e.g., "I believe that a child
should be seen and not heard," and items which tap the parental practice
domain, e.g., "I don't go out if I have to leave my child with a stranger,"
are incorporated into Block's report without distinguishing between the two
domains. In adhtion, few items in Block's report describe inductive reason-
ing, and few items can be classified into Baumrind's conceptualizations of
authoritative parental behavior of child-centeredness versus parent-centered-
ness. Only one item addresses the issue of democratic give and take. Rickel
and Biasatti (1982) showed that Block's report can be revised into a ques-
tionnaire in which a 6-point scale is employed without decreasing reliability
or affecting the factor structure.
Some attempts have been made by researchers interested in socializa-
tion (Kochanska, Kuczynski, & Radke-Yarrow, 1989; Trickett & Susman,
1988) to reduce the number of factors in the Block report and make them
 PARENTING PRACTICES, A MEASURE 82 1

.more consistent with Baumrind's conceptuahzations (Chao, 1994). In con-

structing their measure Kochanska, et al. (1989) incorporated from the Block
original solutions only those factors which they deemed to be congruent
with authoritarian and authoritative child-rearing patterns. However, a h i -
tation with this strategy was that they used conceptual guidehes rather than
empirical derivations. The authoritative pattern consisted of the factors of
expression of affection, e.g., "I feel a child should be given comfort and un-
derstandrng when he/she is scared or upset," rational guidance, e.g., "I
make sure my child knows that I appreciate what he/she tries or accomp-
lishes," and encouragement of independence, e.g., "If my child gets into
trouble, I expect hirn/her to handle the problem mostly by himherself."
The authoritarian pattern consisted of the factors of authoritarian control,
e.g., "I believe children should not have secrets from their parents," super-
vision of the child, e.g., "I believe it is unwise to let children play a lot by
themselves without supervision from grown-ups," and control by anxiety in-
duction, e.g., "I teach my child that in one way or another punishment wdl
find him/her when he/she is bad." Unfortunately, the rehabllities of these
two conceptual scales were not reported. Trickett and Susman (1988) also
conceptually grouped Block's original factors into three scales of enjoyment
of child and parental role, encouragement of autonomy, and authoritarian
control. In examining these items the conceptual basis for these scales is not
dear.
In addition to concerns about conceptually derived inventories, another
issue in developing measures to assess parenting typologies for young chil-
dren lies in empirically identhing practices that comprise the typologies
(Darling & Steinberg, 1993). For example, Buri and Greenberger's adoles-
cent instruments have been modified for parents of younger children to com-
plete; however, these measures are m a d y designed to assess Baumrind's
main global typologies. As Srnetana (1994) pointed out, global typologies
may give little information about ways specific parenting practices are re-
lated to children's behavior. For instance, within the authoritative typology,
it would be reasonable to assume that inductive practices would be related
more to children's adaptive social cognitions (Hart, DeWolf, & Burts, 1993)
and that parental warmth and involvement would have stronger linkages
with children's prosocial behavior, e.g., helping, sharing, comforting. As Dar-
ling and Steinberg (1993) suggested, ddferent parenting practices within a ty-
pology would be more or less important to investigate dependmg on the
specific developmental outcome of interest.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was not only to develop an empiri-
cal means of assessing global typologies consistent with Baurnrind's main
conceptuaLzations for parents of preadolescent children but also to identdy
specific parenting practices that occur within the context of the typologies
822 C. C. ROBINSON, ET AL.

(cf. D a r h g & Steinberg, 1993). Factor and reliabht~analyses were con-

ducted to achieve these aims.
METHOD
Initially, 133 questionnaire items with a 5-point scale anchored by never
( I ) and always (5) was developed using 80 items from Block's report and 53
new items. The new items were constructed based on conceptuahzations of
authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive typologies drawn from the cur-
rent literature that appeared to have face vahdity. Items reflecting Baum-
rind's other typologies were not included in this instrument. The parent-
ing-practices questionnaire was completed by 1,251 volunteer parents (534
fathers and 717 mothers) residing in communities located in Utah. Of these
participants, 32% were parents of preschool-age children from university/
Head Start preschools and 68% were parents of school-age children from
parochial and public elementary schools. Fathers had a mean age of 37.9 yr.
(ranging from 22 to 63) and mothers had a mean age of 35.6 yr. (ranging
from 20 to 57). Fathers had completed a mean of 15.3 yr. of schooling
(ranging from 8 to 231, and mothers had completed a mean of 14.6 yr. of
schoohg (also ranging from 8 to 23). The majority of the participants were
Caucasian from two-parent families whose median family income was ap-
proximately $30,000.
RESULTS
The study's design consisted of two phases. For the first phase we
planned to extract from the 133-item questionnaire three factors deemed to
theoretically correspond with Baumrind's authoritative, authoritarian, and
permissive typologies. Initial reductions in number of items were accom-
plished by a series of principal axes factor analyses followed by varimax
rotations. Items were retained if they (a) had a loading near or over .3O (see
Tabachnick & Fidell, 1989), (b) loaded for both fathers and mothers, and
(c) loaded for parents of both preschool and school-age children. Seventy-
seven items met this criterion. Additional items were e h i n a t e d if their cor-
relations with the total factor score were less than .25. This resulted in 62
questions retained: the Authoritative Items consisting of 27 questions with a
Cronbach a of .91, the Authoritarian Items consisting of 20 questions with a
Cronbach a of .86, and the Permissive Items consisting of 15 questions with
a Cronbach a of .75. This 62-item measure included 19 items (31%) re-
tained from Block's report and 43 new items (69%).
For the second phase of the study's design we intended to determine
the dimensions and internal structures within the Authoritative Items, Au-
thoritarian Items, and Permissive Items that may reflect specific parenting
practices. Each set of items within the three global typologies were analyzed
using principal axes factor analysis followed by o b h i n rotation. Four fac-
 PARENTING
PRACTICES
Q U E ~ I O N N ACONSTRUCTS
IRE

Itcm Number and Content M SD Loading

Authoritative (a=.91, 27 Items, Sample= 1251)
Factor 1 (Warmth and Involvement)
3' Knows the names of child's friends. 4.08 .99 .72
33' Aware of problems or concerns about child in school. 4.18 .87 .68
5' Gives praise when child is good. 4.29 .73
12' Gives comfort and understanding when child is upset. 4.21 .77
35' Expresses affection by hugging, kissing, and holding child. 4.41 .79 .58 2
+I
9' Show sympathy when child is hurt or frustrated. 4.23 .77 .57 2
27" Tells child we appreciate what the child tries or accomplishes. 4.28 .76 .53 0
21' Kesponsive to child's feelings or needs. 4.10 .73 .53
ldEncourages child to talk about the child's troubles.
46' Has warm and intimate times together with child.
4.03
3.83
.93
.89
.57
.44
2n
39h Apologizes to child when making a mistake in parenting. 3.79 1.02 .42 8m
Ln
Factor 2 (ReasoningAnduction)
5gh Explains the consequences of the child's behavior. 3.81 .83 .76 >
25h Gives child reasons why rules should be obeyed. 3.95 .84 .76 6
62h Emphasizes the reasons for rules.
29h Helps child to understand the impact of behavior by encouraging child to talk about the conse-
3.85 .91 .75
6%
quences of (his)(her) own actions. 3.67 .97 .65
5 j h Explains how we feel about hishcr good and bad behavior. 3.93 .86 .65
42' Talks it over and reasons w ~ r hc h ~ l dwhen the child misbehaves. 3.75 .88 .5 1
lbh Tells child our expectations regarding behavior before the child engages in an activity. 3.49 .99 .47
(continued on next p . ~ g e )
- -
*Reverse scoring. 'Block's Q-sort-Rational Guidance, b ~ l o c k ' sQ-sort-Enco~lr~~ement
d ~ l o c k ' sQ-sort-Openness
of Independence, 'Block's Q-sort-ExpressionF,
of
to Experience, eney Demonstration of Affect, fnew Child-centered Behavior, gnew Parenting Confidence, new
Authoritative Pattern, 'Block's Q-sort-Control, JBlock's Q-sort-Nonphysical Punishment, knew Authoritarian Pattern, l lock's Q-sort-Incon-
sistency, "'Block's Q-sort-Investment in Child, "new Permissive Pattern, 'new Parent-centered Bchavior. 00
N
W
 TABLE I(CONT'D)
PARENTING QUESTIONNAIRE
PRACTICES CONSTRUCTS
Item Numbcr and Content M SD Loading
Factor 3 (Democratic Participation)
55b Takes into account child's preferences in making family plans.
21h M o w s child to give input into family rules.
31f Takes child's desires into account before asking the child to d o something
48h Encourages child to freely express (himself)(herself) even when disagreeing with parents.
6oh Channels child's misbehavior into a more acceptable activity.
Factor 4 (Good NaturedEasy Going)
14' Is easy going and relaxed with child.
1 8 W h o w s patience with child.
7' Jokes and plays with child.
51b Shows respect for child's opinions by encouraging child to express thcm.
Authoritarian (a=.86, 2 0 Items, Sample= 1251)
Factor 1 (Verbal Hosthty)
32e Explodes in anger towards child.
1 3 ~ Yells or shouts when child misbehaves.
23' Argues with child.
44' Disagrees with child.
Factor 2 (Corporal Punishment)
37i Uses physical punishment as a way of disciplining our child.
6k Spanks when our child is disobedient.
4 j k Slaps child when the child misbehaves.
1 9 ~ Grabs child when being disobedient.
2k Guidcs child by punishment more than by reason.
61k Shoves child when the child is disobedient.
(continued on next page)
 TABLE 1 (CONT'D)
PARENTING QUESTIONNAIRE
PRACTICES CONSTRUCTS

Item Number and Content M SD Loading

Factor 3 ( N o n r e a ~ o n i nPunitive
~, Strategies)
1 d Punishes by taking privileges away from child with little if any explanation. 1.55 .77 .78
28i Punishes by putting child off somewhere alone with little if any explanation. 1.58 .81 .73
5dk Uses threats as punishment with little or no justification. 1.59 .75 .58
47k When two childrcn are fighting, disciplines children first and asks questions later. 2.20 .93 48
26' Appears to be more concerned with own feelings than with child's feelings. 1.93 .79 .4 1
56k When child asks why (he)(she) has to conform, states: because 1 said so, or I am your parent
and I want you to.
2.18 .88 .40
~zz
Factor 4 (Directiveness) 0
40' Tells child what to do. 3.22 .88 69
59' Demands that child does/do things. 2.83 1.02 .67 n
17' Scolds and criticizes to make child improve. 1.93 .86 .64
5ok Scolds or criticizes whcn child's behavior doesn't meet our expectations. 2.50 .96 .5 1 n
-E
Permissive (a=.75, 15 Items, Sample= 1251)
9
Factor 1 (Lack of Follow Through)
20" States punishments to child and docs not actually do them. 2.06 .79 .75
34' Threatens child with punishment more often than giving it. 2.61 1.02
l l m Spoils child. 2.53 .98
41" Gives in to child when (hc)(she) causes a commotion about something. 1.96 .77 .42
38" Carries out discipline after child misbehaves. 2.37 .84 -.38*
49" Bribes child with rcwards to bring about compliance. 2.17 .87 .32
(continued on next page)
*Reverse scoring. nBlock's Q-sort-Rational Guidance, b ~ l o c k ' sQ-sort-Enco ragement of Independence, 'Block's Q-sort-Expression of Affect,
d ~ l o c k ' sQ-sort-0pe"ness to Experience, Demonstration of Affect, "rnew Child-ccntered Behavior, h e w Parenting Confidence, hnew
Authoritative Pattern, 'Block's Q-sort-Control, JBlock's Q-sort-Nonphysical Punishment, knew Authoritarian Pattern, 'Block's Q-sort-Tncon-
sistency, "'Block's Q-sort-Investment in Child, "new Permissive Pattern, 'new Parent-centered Behavior.
 TABLE 1 (CONT'D)
PARENTING QUESTIONNAIRE
PRACTICES CONSTRUCTS

Item Number and Content M SD Loading

Factor 2 (Ignoring Misbehavior)
45" Allows child to interrupt others. 1.83 .76 .73
n
r,
15" Allows child to annoy someone else. 1.42 .65 .69 W
36" Ignores child's rnisbchavior. 1.73 .68 .52
8" Withholds scolding and/or criticism even when child acts contrary to our wishes. 2.25 .93 .43
Factor 3 (Self-confidence) CA
0
24g Appears confident about parcnting abilities. 2.17 .78 -33" -2
578 Appears unsure on how to solvc child's misbehavior. 2.16 .79 .74 m
4" Finds it difficult to discipline child. 2.16 .95 .50
52' Sets strict well-established rules for child. 2.45 92 -37"
30"s afraid that disciplining child for misbchavior WLLI cause the child to nor like h i s h e r parcnrs. 1.55 6s .36
"Reverse scoring. 'Block's Q-sort-Rational Guidance, b ~ l o c k ' sQ-sort-Encouragement of Independence, 'Block's Q-sort-Eupress~on of Affect,
d ~ l o c k ' sQ-sort-Openness to Experience, enew Demonstration of Affect, [new Child-centered Behavior, gnew Parenting Confidence, hnew
Authoritative Pattern, 'Block's Q-sort-Control, 'Block's Q-sort-Nonphysical Punishment, knew Authoritarian Pattern, lock's Q-sort-Incon-
sistency, "Block's Q-sort-Investment in Child, "new Permissive Pattern, Oncw Parent-centered Behavior.
 PARENTING PRACTICES, A MEASURE 827

tors with eigenvalues greater than one were extracted from the Authoritative
Items accounting for 47.4% of the variance. These factors were labeled (a)
Warmth and Involvement with 11 items, (b) Reasoninghduction with 7
items, (c) Democratic Participation with 5 items, and (d) Good Natured/
Easy Going with 4 items. Four factors with eigenvalues greater than one
were extracted from the Authoritarian Items accounting for 46.8% of the
variance. These factors were labeled (a) Verbal Hostility with 4 items, (b)
Corporal Punishment with 6 items, (c) Nonreasoning, Punitive Strategies
with 6 items, and (d) Directiveness with 4 items. Three factors with eigenval-
ues greater than one were extracted from the Permissive Items accounting
for 40.3% of the variance. These factors were labeled (a) Lack of Follow
Through with 6 items, (b) Ignoring Misbehavior with 4 items, and (c) Self-
confidence with 5 items. Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations,
factor loadmgs, and descriptions of items within each global typology.
These results suggest that parenting questions consistent with Baum-
rind's three main typologies can be empirically derived. Also, a number of
conceptually coherent factors identified within each typology may prove to
be useful in predicting differential developmental outcomes (cf. D a r h g &
Steinberg, 1993). This measure can be used with both mothers and fathers
who are parents of preschool and/or school-age children. A sample of the
mothers' form of the instrument is found in the Appendix (pp. 829-8301,
The fathers' form is the same except for pronoun changes. This instrument
can also be modified for intergenerational studies. ~ d u l t sreport on how
they were parented by their mothers or fathers as children. Researchers must
investigate the correlations of the factors with both child and family out-
come measures to assess the validity of the inventory.
REFERENCES
BAUMRJND.D. (1971) Current patterns of parental authority. Developtnenial Pryrhology Mono-
graphs, 4, 1-103.
BAUMRIND, D. (1989) Rearing competent children. In W. Darnon (Ed.), Child development lo-
day and tomzorrow. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Pp. 349-378.
BAUMRIND, D. (1991) Effective arenting during the early adolescent transition. In P. A. Cow-
an & M. Hetherington ( ~ 4 . )Family. iratr.rifions.Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 111-163.
BLOCK,J. H. (1965) The child-rearing practices report: a technique for evaluating parental social-
izafio~zorientations. Berkeley, CA: Univer. of Caltfornia, Institute of Human Develop-
ment.
BURI,J. R. (1991) Parental Authority Questionnaire. ]or,rml of Perso)zaliiy Assessment, 57,
110-119.
CHAO.R. K. (1994) Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting st le understanding
Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Child ~ P t e L ~ k e n65, i , 1111-
1119.
DARLING, N.,& STEINBERG, L. (1993) P a r e n h g style as context: an integrative model. Psy-
chological BrrlIeti~~, 113, 487-496.
DORNBU~CH. S. M., ~ T T E R . P. L., LEIDERMAN, l? 0.. ROBERTS,D. F., &FRALEIGH, M. J. (1987)
The relation of parenring style to adolescent school performance. Child Deuelopment, 58,
1244-1257.
 C. C. ROBINSON, ET AL.

GREENBERGER, E. (1988) New measures for research on work, parenting and the socialization
of children. (Unpublished manuscript, Univer. of California, Program in Social Ecology,
Irvine, CA)
HART, C. H.. DEWOLF,M., & BURTS,D. C. (1993) Parental disciplinary strate ~ c sand pre-
schoolers' play behaviors in playground settings In C. H. Hart (Ed.), ~ h r b r e non play-
grounds: research perspectives and applications. d b d n y . NY: State University of New York
Press. Pp. 83-98.
KOCHANSKA, B., KUCZYNSKI, L., &RADKE-YARROW, M. (1989) Corres ondence between mothers'
self-reported and observed child-rearing practices. Child ~ e v e E ~ t n e t z60,
t , 56-63.
RICKEL.A. U., & BIASATTI, L. L. (1982) ModiFication of the Block Child-rearing Practices Re-
port. Journal of Cfitzical Psychology, 38, 129-134.
SMETANA, J. G. (1994) Parenting styles and beliefs about parental authority. In J. G. Smetana
(Ed.), Beliefs about parenting: origins and deuelopmental implications. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass. Pp. 21-36.
STEINBERG, L., ELMEN,D. J.. &MOUNTS,N. S. (1989) Authoritative parenting, psychosocial ma-
turity, and academic success among adolescents. Child Development, 60, 1424-1436.
STEINBERG, L., LAMBORN, S. D.. DORNBUSCH, S. M.. &DARLING. N. (1992) Impact of parenting
practices on adolescent achievement: authoritative parenting, school involvement, and en-
couragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266-1281.
STEINBERG, L., MOUNTS,N. S., LAMBORN, S. D., & DORNBUSCH, S. M. (1991) Authoritative
parenring and adolescent adjustment across varied ecological niches. Journal of Research
on Adolescence, 1, 19-36.
TABACHNICK, B. G.. & FIDELL,L. S. (1989) Usirtg multivariate statistics. New York: Harper
Collins.
TRICKETT, I? K.. &SUSMAN, E. 1. (1988) Parental erceptions of child-rearing practices in physi-
cally abusive and nonabusive families. ~ e u e E ~ m e n tPsychology,
al 24, 270-276.

Accepted Sep !ember 18, 1995.

 PARENTING PRACTICES, A MEASURE 829

APPENDIX
QUE.S~ONNAIRE
PARENTINGPRACTICES (MOTHERS'
FORM)

Make two ratings for each item; (1) rate how often your spouse exhibits this behavior with
your child and (2) how often you exhibit this behavior with your child.
Spouse Exhibits Behavior: I Exhibit This Behavior:
I =Never 1 = Never
2 =Once in Awhile 2 =Once in Awhile
3 =About Half of the Time 3 =About Half of the Time
4 =Very Often 4 =Very Often
5 =Always 5 =Always

[He encouragesl[I encour~gc]our child to talk about the child's troubles.

[He guidesl[I guide1 our chdd by punishment more than by reason.
[He knowsl[I know1 the names of our child's friends.
[He f i d s l [ I find] it difficult to discipline our child.
[He gives praiseICI give praise] when our ctuld is good.
[He spanksl[I spank] when our child is disobedient.
[He jokes and playsl[I joke and play] with our child.
[He withholdsl[I withhold1 scolding and/or criticism even when our child
acts contrary to our wishes.
[He showsl[I showl sympathy when our child is hurt or frustrated.
[He unishesl[I punish] by taking privileges away from our child with
I i t L if any explanation.
[He spoilsl[I spoil] our child.
[He givesl[I givel comfort and understanding when our child is upset.
[He yells or shoutsl[I yell or shout] when our child misbehaves.
[He isl[I am1 easy going and relaxed with our child.
[He allowsl[I d o w ] our child to annoy someone else.
[He tellsl[I tell] our child our expectations regarding behavior before the
child engages in an activity.
[He scolds and criticizes][ I scold and criticize] to make our child improve.
[He showsl[I showl patience with our child.
[He grabsl[I grab] our child when being disobedient.
[He statesl[I state] punishments to our child and does not actually do
them.
[He islII am1 responsive to our child's feelings or needs.
[He allowsl[I allow1 our child to give input into family rules.
[He arguesl[I argue] with our child.
[He appearsIL1 appear1 confident about parenting abilities.
[He givesl[I givel our child reasons why rules should be obeyed.
[He appearsl[I a pearl to be more concerned with own feelings than with
our child's f e L g s .
[He teHsl[I tell] our child that we appreciate what the child tries or ac-
complishes.
[He unishesl[I punish1 by putting our child off somewhere alone with
litge if any explanation.
[He helpsl[I help1 our child to understand the impact of behavior by en-
couraging our child to talk about the consequences of own actions.
(continued on next ~ ~ r c )
83 0 C. C. ROBINSON, ET AL.

APPENDIX (Cont'd)
PARENTING
PRACTICES (MOTHERS'
QUESTIONNAIRE FORM)

-- 30. [He isl[I am] afraid that disciplining our child for misbehavior will cause
the child to not like hisher parents.
31. [He takesl[I takel our child's desires into account before a s h g the child
to do something.
32. [He explodesl[I explode] in anger towards our child.
33. [He isl[I am1 aware of problems or concerns about our child in school.
34. [He threatensl[I threaten] our child with punishmenr more often chan
actually giving it.
35. [He ex ressesl[I express] affection by hugging, kissing, and holding our
chil!
[He ignores] [I ignore] our child's misbehavior.
[He usesl[I use1 physical punishmenr as a way of disciplining our child.
[He carriesl[I carry] out discipline after our child misbehaves.
[He apologizesl[I apologize] to our child when making a mistake in parent-
L"P
[He tellsl[I cell] our child what to do.
[He givesl[I give1 into our child when the child causes a commotion about
something.
[He talks it over and reasonsl[I talk it over and reason] with our child
when the child misbehaves.
[He slapsl[I slap] our child when the child misbehaves.
[He disagreesl[I disagree] with our child.
[He allowsl[I allow] our child to interrupt others.
[He hasl[I have1 warm and intimate times together with our child.
When two children are fighting, [he disciplinesl[I discipline] the children
first and asks questions later.
[He encouragesl[I encourage] our child to freely express (himself)(herself)
even when dsagreeing with parents.
[He bribesl[I bribe] our child with rewards to bring about compliance.
[He scolds or criticizes][I scold or criucize] when our child's behavior
doesn't meet our expectations.
[He showsl[I show] respect for our child's opinions by encouraging our
child to express them.
[He setsIlI set] strict well-established rules for our child.
[He ex lainsl[I explainl to our child how we feel about the child's good
and %ad behavior.
[He usesl[I use] threats as punishmenr with little or no jusufication.
[He takesl[I takel into account our child's preferences in making plans for
the family.
When our child asks why (he)(she) has to conform, [he statesl[I state]: be-
cause 1said so, or I am your parent and I want you to.
[He appearsl[I appear] unsure on how to solve our child's misbehavior.
[He explainsl[I explain] the consequences of the child's behavior.
[He demands] [I demand] that our child does/do chings.
[He channels][I channel] our child's misbehavior into a more acceptable
activity.
61. [He shovesl[I shovel our child when the child is disobedient.
-- 62. [He emphasizesl[I emphasize] the reasons for rules.