Assessment of parent-child subsystem qualities in Chinese adolescents: Behavioral control, psychological control and parent-child relational qualities

Abstract

The psychometric properties of several measures of parent-child subsystem qualities (behavioral control, psychological control, and parent-child relationship) were examined in this study. Based on scales validated in previous studies, an abridged 17-item measure of behavioral control, psychological control, and parent-child relationship was administered in 3,328 junior secondary school students in Hong Kong. Results showed that the three measures were internally consistent. Consistent with the hypotheses, the three measures of parent-child subsystem were significantly correlated amongst themselves. Exploratory factor analyses showed that three factors were extracted from the items, and the factors were stable across different subsamples based on gender and age. The present findings suggest that the abridged version of measures of behavioral control, psychological control, and parent-child relationship possesses acceptable psychometric properties.