Abstract
This study is aimed to validate the Italian version of the dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented psychological control scale (DAPCS), a self-report questionnaire designed to assess the adolescent’s perception of the two dimensions of psychological control. In Study 1, we assessed factorial validity and reliability of the Italian version of DAPCS with a sample of adolescents. In Study 2, we examined the convergent validity of the Italian version of the DAPCS analyzing the associations between the two domains of psychological control and well-established measures related to them such as strictness/supervision, overprotection, non dependency on parents, and family functioning. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the hypothesized two-factor solution of the DAPCS, with a 16 items’ version better fitting the data, for paternal as well as for maternal ratings. High indices of internal consistency indicated that both subscales produced reliable scores. Convergent validity was confirmed by positive associations between the DAPCS’ subscales and measures of strictness and negative associations between the DAPCS’ subscales and measures of global family functioning, both for maternal and paternal ratings. Finally, results evidenced significant effects for adolescents’ and parental gender on achievement-oriented psychological control, with mothers rated higher than fathers by males and fathers rated higher than mothers by females. Overall, the results of these studies indicated that the Italian form of the DAPCS might be a useful instrument to assess the two domain-specific types of parental psychological control among Italian-speaking adolescents.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, J. C., & Gerbing, D. W. (1984). The effect of sampling error on convergence, improper solutions, and goodness-of-fit indices for maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis. Psychometrika, 49, 155–173.
Barber, B. K. (1996). Parental psychological control: Revisiting a neglected construct. Child Development, 67, 3296–3319.
Barber, B. K., & Harmon, E. L. (2002). Violating the self: Parental psychological control of children and adolescents. In B. K. Barber (Ed.), Intrusive parenting: How psychological control affects children and adolescents (pp. 15–52). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Barber, B. K., Stolz, H. E., & Olsen, J. A. (2005). Parental support, psychological control, and behavioral control: Assessing relevance across time, culture and method. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 70, 1–137.
Barber, B. K., Xia, M., Olsen, J. A., McNeely, C. A., & Bose, K. (2012). Feeling disrespected by parents: Refining the measurement and understanding of psychological control. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 273–287.
Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238–246.
Bentler, P. M., & Bonett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 588–606.
Byrne, B. M. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming (pp. 79–88). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Cacioppo, M., Pace, U., & Zappulla, C. (2013). Parental psychological control, quality of family context and life satisfaction among Italian adolescents. Child Indicators Research, 6, 179–191.
Chung, J., Zappulla, C., & Kaspar, V. (2008). Parental warmth and socio-emotional adjustment in Brazilian, Canadian, Chinese and Italian children: A cross-cultural perspective. In R. N. Ramirez (Ed.), Family relations issues and challenges (pp. 21–41). New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297–334.
Di Maggio, R., & Zappulla, C. (2013). Mothering, fathering, and Italian adolescents’ problem behaviors and life satisfaction: Dimensional and typological approach. Journal of Child and Family Studies,. doi:10.1007/s10826-013-9721-6.
Epstein, N. B., Baldwin, L., & Bishop, D. S. (1983). The McMaster family assessment device. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 9, 171–180.
Hambleton, R. K. (2001). The next generation of the ITC test translation and adaptation guidelines. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 17, 164–172.
Honaker, J., & King, G. (2010). What to do about missing values in time-series cross-section data. American Journal of Political Science, 54, 561–581.
Hoyle, R. H. (1995). The structural equation modeling approach: Basic concepts and fundamental issues. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications (pp. 1–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Hu, L.-T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55.
Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practices of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford.
Laghi, F., Baiocco, R., Lonigro, A., & Baumgartner, E. (2013). The role of parenting styles and alcohol expectancies in teen binge drinking: A Preliminary Investigation among Italian Adolescents and their parents. Drugs: Education Prevention & Policy, 20, 131–139.
Mantzouranis, G., Zimmermann, G., Biermann-Mahaim, E., & Favez, N. (2012). A further examination of the distinction between dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented parental psychological control: Psychometric properties of the DAPCS with French-speaking late adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 21, 726–733.
McDonald, R. P. (1999). Test homogeneity, reliability, and generalizability. In R. P. McDonald (Ed.), Test theory: A unified treatment (pp. 76–120). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Meleddu, M., & Scalas, L. F. (2002). Validazione di una versione italiana dell’Emotional Autonomy Scale (Validation of an Italian version of the emotional autonomy scale). Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata, 238, 43–58.
Pace, U., & Zappulla, C. (2009). Identity processes and quality of emotional autonomy: The contribution of two developmental tasks on middle-adolescents’ subjective well-being. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 9, 323–340.
Pace, U., & Zappulla, C. (2010). Relations between suicidal ideation, depression, and emotional autonomy from parents in adolescence. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 747–756.
Pace, U., & Zappulla, C. (2011). Problem behaviors in adolescence: The opposite role played by insecure attachment and commitment strength. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 20, 854–862.
Parker, G. (1983). Parental overprotection. New York: Grune & Stratton.
Parker, G., Tupling, H., & Brown, L. B. (1979). A parental bonding instrument. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 52, 1–10.
Pettit, G. S., & Laird, R. D. (2002). Psychological control and monitoring in early adolescence: The role of parental involvement and earlier child adjustment. In B. K. Barber (Ed.), Intrusive parenting: How psychological control affects children and adolescents (pp. 97–124). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Roncone, R., Rossi, L., Muiere, E., Impallomeni, M., Matteucci, M., Giacomelli, R., et al. (1998). The Italian version of the Family Assessment Device. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 33, 451–461.
Soenens, B., & Beyers, W. (2012). The cross-cultural significance of control and autonomy in parent-adolescent relationships. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 243–248.
Soenens, B., & Park, S. Y. (2008). Distinguishing between separation-anxious and achievement-oriented psychological control: A cross-national comparison between Belgium and South-Korea. Paper presented at the Biennial meeting of the European Association for Research on Adolescence, Torino, Italy.
Soenens, B., Vansteenkiste, M., & Luyten, P. (2010). Toward a domain-specific approach to the study of parental psychological control: Distinguishing between dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented psychological control. Journal of Personality, 78, 217–256.
Soenens, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Luyten, P., Duriez, B., & Goossens, L. (2005). Maladaptive perfectionistic self-representations: The mediational link between psychological control and adjustment. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 487–498.
Steinberg, L. D., Lamborn, S. D., Darling, N., Mounts, N. S., & Dornbusch, S. M. (1994). Over-time changes in adjustment and competence among adolescents from authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful families. Child Development, 65, 754–770.
Steinberg, L., & Silverberg, S. B. (1986). The vicissitudes of autonomy in early adolescence. Child Development, 57, 841–851.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Vandenberg, R. J., & Lance, C. E. (2000). A review and synthesis of the measurement invariance literature: Suggestions, practices, and recommendations for organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 3, 4–70.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Gianni Guzzo, Valentina Lo Cascio, Ugo Pace and Carla Zappulla have contributed equally to the study.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guzzo, G., Lo Cascio, V., Pace, U. et al. Psychometric Properties and Convergent Validity of the Dependency-Oriented and Achievement-Oriented Psychological Control Scale (DAPCS) with Italian Adolescents. J Child Fam Stud 23, 1258–1267 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9786-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9786-2