Developing and Validating a New Measure of Parenting Styles

Parenting styles play a significant role in each phase of development. The current study sought to develop and validate a new measure of parenting styles, which according to an article from the Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development, are defined as “several elements that combine to create the emotional climate in which parents communicate their attitudes and practices about child rearing with their child” (Dalimonte-Merckling & Williams , 2020, p. 496). The scale was developed utilizing Baumrind’s approach to categorize four main parenting styles, which include authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and negligent (Jessup University, 2019). Participants in this study include Belmont University students 18 years old and older enrolled in General Psychology, and receiving class credit for completing the survey. Participants filled out a survey on Qualtrics including the Parental Authority Questionnaire (Buri, 1991), the Attachment Styles Questionnaire (Feeney et al., 1994), and the Parenting Styles Experienced in Youth Questionnaire that we developed. Results and discussion are forthcoming