Validation of the Italian Version of the Parental Attitude Scale
G. Fioravanti1, G. Bertoli1, O. Bernini2, C. Berrocal2, F. Cosci1
1University of Florence, Department of Health Sciences, Florence, Italy
2University of Pisa, Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular and Critical Area Pathology, Italy
Background: This study focused on the validation of the Italian version of the Parental Attitude Scale (PAD). This is a 46-item questionnaire that was developed to measure parental attitudes on the basis of three dimensions: Pleasure-Displeasure, Arousal-Non arousal, Dominance-Submissiveness. Methods: 495 parents (241 males; mean age= 40.6±5.7 years) participated in the study. Dimensionality was explored using Principal Component Analysis. Findings: The three-factor solution accounted for 19.98% of the variance, and yielded poor indices for about one-third of the items. Moreover, it was largely inconsistent with the original proposed structure and difficult to interpret, suggesting the removal of 17 items. A four-factor solution for the resulting 29-item version was identified (Parenting Pleasure, Parenting Load, Parental Permissiveness, Educational Rules), explaining 30.63% of the variance. Discussion: The 29-item version of the PAD seems a more psychometrically sound measure than the original 46-item version. However, more studies are needed to achieve a comprehensive investigation of its psychometric characteristics in Italian contexts.