Perceived parental rearing style in childhood: internal structure and concurrent validity on the Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran—Child Version in clinical settings

Abstract 

Background

We provide the first validation data of the Spanish version of the Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran—Child Version (EMBU-C) in a clinical context. The EMBU-C is a 41-item self-report questionnaire that assesses perceived parental rearing style in children, comprising 4 subscales (rejection, emotional warmth, control attempts/overprotection, and favoring subjects).

Methods

The test was administered to a clinical sample of 174 Spanish psychiatric outpatients aged 8 to 12. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed, analyzing the children's reports about their parents' rearing style.

Results

The results were almost equivalent for father's and mother's ratings. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded an acceptable fit to data of the 3-factor model when removing the items of the favoring subjects scale (root mean squared error of approximation <0.07). Satisfactory internal consistency reliability was obtained for 2 of the 3 scales, rejection and emotional warmth (Cronbach α >.73), whereas control attempts scale showed lower values, as in previous studies. The influence of sex (of children and parents) on scale scores was inappreciable and children tended to perceive their parents as progressively less warm as they grew older. As predicted, the scores for rejection and emotional warmth were related to bad relationships with parents, absence of family support, harsh discipline, and lack of parental supervision.

Conclusions

The Spanish version of EMBU-C can be used with psychometric guarantees to identify rearing style in psychiatric outpatients because evidences of quality in this setting match those obtained in community samples.