About My Parent
Adapted from the Positive Parenting and Discipline measures of the Pittsburgh Youth Study (see Thornberry, Huizinga, & Loeber, 1995). Pittsburgh Youth Study, The Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
Abstract: The About My Parent questionnaire is a 17-item measure which assesses children's perceptions of their primary caregivers' parenting responses when they engage in pleasing and displeasing behavior. The first 8 items are drawn from the Discipline measure, and are used to assess the frequency with which parents use different disciplinary strategies for the infraction of family rules. The last 9 items, drawn from the Positive Parenting measure, provide the youth's report on the frequency with which their parent provides positive praise and reinforcement when they do something that the parent approves of. All items are rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always). Two different methods for scaling will be presented. The primary scaling procedure was derived from exploratory factor analyses on the Normative sample, conducted separately for the Discipline and Positive Parenting items. A more detailed discussion of the primary scaling procedure can be found in the addendum. The alternate scaling was constructed to closely parallel the algorithms used by Loeber and his colleagues in the Pittsburgh Youth Study's "Positive Parenting/Low Reinforcement" construct. It includes items from both the parent and youth versions of this measure, both combined and in separate scales. Although our alternate scale comprises the same items as their scale, our measure uses a 5-point response scale, whereas theirs utilized a 3-point response scale. Each scale score is derived from the mean of the items that compose it, with the exception of Low Reinforcement, which is the sum of the means of the parent and youth reports. This measure was scaled so as to create identical scales as those generated by the parent's report on the Parenting (Primary Caregiver) measure. Note that this scaling is different from what was used in the original Technical Report written by McMahon, Jones, & Kim (1997). The current scales are preferred because they are more specific. Although Item 8 ("Tell you to get out or lock you out of the house for a while") has low variability, it was retained in the Harsh Discipline scale due to its consistency with more punitive forms of discipline.
Who Completed this Measure?: Target Child/Youth (now in adulthood)
Cohort 1 - Administrative History
- Year 05 | grade 4 | age 10
- Year 06 | grade 5 | age 11
- Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
- Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14
Cohort 2 - Administrative History
- Year 05 | grade 4 | age 10
- Year 06 | grade 5 | age 11
- Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
- Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14
Cohort 3 - Administrative History
- Year 05 | grade 4 | age 10
- Year 06 | grade 5 | age 11
- Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
- Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14
Technical Reports:
Raw Dataset Name: CyQ
Scored Dataset Name: AMPySCc
Keywords:
Communication, Discipline, Positive Parenting, Punishment, Rewards
Is this Measure Available for Public Use?: Yes
Obtain Measure:
Download the measure here
SAS Code for Scale Creation:
Download the code here
Measure Items and Scales:
| tcid | Child ID Number |
| site | Study Site |
| cohort | Cohort |
| INTID | Interviewer ID Number |
| C9AKP1 | Take away privilege |
| C9AKP2 | Send to room/Time out |
| C9AKP3 | Yell or scold |
| C9AKP4 | Calmly discuss misbehavior |
| C9AKP5 | Ignore misbehavior |
| C9AKP6 | Spank |
| C9AKP7 | Slap or hit |
| C9AKP8 | Lock out of home |
| C9AKP9 | Ignore good behavior |
| C9AKP10 | Smile or wink |
| C9AKP11 | Praise |
| C9AKP12 | Physical affection |
| C9AKP13 | Reward |
| C9AKP14 | Give special privilege |
| C9AKP15 | Do something special |
| C9AKP16 | Tell someone |
| C9AKP17 | Ask why not always good |
| SITECODE | Actual Code Number on Form |
| c9akp9r | Reversed-Ignore good behavior |
| c9akp10r | Reversed-Smile or wink |
| c9akp11r | Reversed-Praise |
| c9akp12r | Reversed-Physical affection |
| c9akp13r | Reversed-Reward |
| c9akp14r | Reversed-Give special privilege |
| c9akp15r | Reversed-Do something special |
| c9akp16r | Reversed-Tell someone |
| P9ABP9 | Like Behavior-Ignore |
| P9ABP10 | Like Behavior-Smile |
| P9ABP11 | Like Behavior-Praise |
| P9ABP12 | Like Behavior-Physical Affection |
| P9ABP13 | Like Behavior-Reward |
| P9ABP14 | Like Behavior-Special Privilege |
| P9ABP15 | Like Behavior-Do Something Special |
| P9ABP16 | Like Behavior-Tell Someone |
| p9abp10r | Reversed-Like Behavior-Smile |
| p9abp11r | Reversed-Like Behavior-Praise |
| p9abp12r | Reversed-Like Behavior-Physical Affection |
| p9abp13r | Reversed-Like Behavior-Reward |
| p9abp14r | Reversed-Like Behavior-Special Privilege |
| p9abp15r | Reversed-Like Behavior-Do Something Special |
| p9abp16r | Reversed-Like Behavior-Tell Someone |
| AMP9APD | Appropriate Discipline-AMP-Yr 9 |
| AMP9HAD | Harsh Discipline-AMP-Yr 9 |
| AMP9PAT | Positive Attention-AMP-Yr 9 |
| AMP9TRW | Tangible Rewards-AMP-Yr 9 |
| AMP9LRY | Low Reinforcement(Youth)-AMP-Yr 9 |
| AMP9LRP | Low Reinforcement(Parent)-AMP-Yr 9 |
| AMP9LRT | Low Reinforcement-Combined-AMP-Yr 9) |