Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Adapting the Guilt About Parenting Scale (GAPS) to Turkish culture: Validity and reliability study

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of this study is to adapt the Guilt About Parenting Scale (GAPS), developed by Haslam et al. (Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(3), 880–894, 2020), to Turkish by validity and reliability analysis. The scale was applied to 430 parents, and its corrected item-total test correlations ranged from .55 to .71 (p < .01). As a result of Confirmatory Factor analysis, the values for the goodness-of-fit indices were found to have acceptable values (χ2 = 70.65, SD = 27, RMSEA = .06, CFI = .97, and SRMR = .02). The GAP’s Cronbach alpha of internal consistency was seen to be α = .893. Within the scope of the criterion-related validity study, a positive relationship at the .60 level was detected between the Maternal Employment Guilt Scale (MEGS) (Yüce-Selvi & Kantaş İş, Güç: Endüstri İlişkileri ve İnsan Kaynakları Dergisi, 21(1), 28–52, 2019) and the total score from the GAPS. The results of the research show the Turkish form of the GAPS to be a valid and reliable measuring tool.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on request.

References

  • Aksoy, Ö. A. (1963). Atasözleri, deyimler. Türk Tarih Kurumu.

  • Aluş, Y. (2015). Kültürel ve toplumsal gerçekliğimiz açısından aile anlayışlarının ve Türk ailesinin değerlendirmesi. PESA Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 1(1), 15–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aycan, Z., & Eskin, M. (2005). Relative contribution of childcare, spousal, and organizational support in reducing work–family conflict for males and females: The case of Turkey. Sex Roles, 53(7), 453–471. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-7134-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bek, H., Gülveren, H., & Şen, B. (2012). Otistik çocuğa sahip ebeveynlerle normal çocuğa sahip olan ebeveynlerin atılganlık, suçluluk ve utanç düzeyleri bakımından incelenmesi. Turkish International Journal of Special Education and Guidance & Counselling (TIJSEG) ISSN: 1300-7432, 1(2).

  • Borelli, J. L., Nelson, S. K., River, L. M., Birken, S. A., & Moss-Racusin, C. (2017). Gender differences in work-family guilt in parents of young children. Sex Roles, 76(5–6), 356–368. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0579-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2011). Sosyal bilimler için veri analizi el kitabı: İstatistik, araştırma deseni SPSS uygulamaları ve yorum. Pegem A Yayıncılık.

    Google Scholar 

  • Çalışır, H., Karaçam, Z., Akgül, F., & Kurnaz, D. (2009). Doğum sonrası ebeveynlik davranışı ölçeğinin Türkçe formunun geçerliği ve güvenirliği. Anadolu Hemşirelik ve Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi, 12(1), 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Çelik, H. (2013). Genç yetişkinlerde babanın belirsiz kaybının aile sistemi ve bireysel psikolojik örüntüler bağlamında incelenmesi: Danışmanlık psikolojisi perspektifinden karma bir araştırma [Doctoral dissertation, Marmara Üniversitesi]. Yok Tez.

  • Cirhinlioğlu, F. G., & Güvenç, G. (2011). Shame proneness, guilt proneness and psychopathology. Journal of Human Sciences, 8(1), 248–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J. W. (2005). Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (2nd ed.). Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elvin-Nowak, Y. (1999). The meaning of guilt: A phenomenological description of employed mothers’ experiences of guilt. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 40(1), 73–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9450.00100

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eyer, D. (1996). Motherguilt: How our culture blames mothers for what’s wrong with society. Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. W W Norton & Co..

    Google Scholar 

  • Gladding, S. T. (2015). Family therapy: History, theory, and practice (6th ed.). Pearson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldin, C. D. (1991). The role of world war II in the rise of women's employment. The American Economic Review, 741–756. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2006640

  • Hagerman, C. J., Ferrer, R. A., Klein, W. M. P., & Persky, S. (2020). Association of parental guilt with harmful versus healthful eating and feeding from a virtual reality buffet. Health Psychology, 39(3), 199–208. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000831

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harrow, M., & Amdur, M. (1971). Guilt and depressive disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 25(3), 240–246. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1971.01750150048007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haslam, D., Filus, A. F., & Finch, J. (2020). The guilt about parenting scale (GAPS): Development and initial validation of a self-report measure of parenting guilt, and the relationship between parenting guilt and work and family variables. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(3), 880–894. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01565-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kagitcibasi, C., & Ataca, B. (2005). Value of children and family change: A three-decade portrait from Turkey. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 54(3), 317–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karaçengel, F. J. (2007). Zihinsel engelli çocuğa sahip anneler ile sağlıklı çocuğa sahip annelerin, atılganlık ve suçluluk-utanç düzeyleri açısından karşılaştırılması [Master's thesis, Maltepe Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü]. Yok Tez.

  • Korabik, K. (2015). The intersection of gender and work–family guilt. In M. Mills (Ed.), Gender and work-family experience: An intersection of two domains (pp. 141–157). Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. (2008). Self-conscious emotions: Embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed., pp. 742–756). Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, P., Carrasco, M. J., Aza, G., Blanco, A., & Espinar, I. (2011). Family gender role and guilt in spanish dual-earner families. Sex Roles, 65(11–12), 813–826. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-0031-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, G., O’Brien, L., & Jackson, D. (2007). Guilt and shame: Experiences of parents of self-harming adolescents. Journal of Child Health Care, 11(4), 298–310. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367493507082759

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McElwain, A. K. (2008). An examination of the reliability and validity of the work–family guilt scale. (doctoral dissertation, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada). ProQuest dissertations and theses.

  • Meirsschaut, M., Roeyers, H., & Warreyn, P. (2010). Parenting in families with a child with autism spectrum disorder and a typically developing child: Mothers’ experiences and cognitions. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 4(4), 661–669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2010.01.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ozensel, B. (2004). Türk toplumunda çocuğun yetiştirilmesinde annenin rolü: Konya ili örneği. Değerler Eğitimi Dergisi, 2(6), 77–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pescud, M., & Pettigrew, S. (2014). ‘I know it ‘s wrong, but…’:A qualitative investigation of low-income parents’ feelings of guilt about their child-feeding practices: Parents’ guilt inducing child-feeding practices. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 10(3), 422–435. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8709.2012.00425.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rich, A. (1986). Of woman born: Motherhood as experience and institution. W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riedesser, P., & Wolff, G. (1985). Parental guilt experience in diseases of their children. Monatsschrift Kinderheilkunde : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Kinderheilkunde, 133(9), 657–662.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seagram, S., & Daniluk, J. C. (2002). It goes with the territory. Women & Therapy, 25(1), 61–88. https://doi.org/10.1300/j015v25n01_04

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon, R. W. (1995). Gender, multiple roles, role meaning, and mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 36(2), 182–194. https://doi.org/10.2307/2137224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, T. (2011). Re-examining cultural contradictions: Mothering ıdeology and the ıntersections of class, gender, and race. Sociology Compass, 5(10), 898–907. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2011.00415.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tezel-Sahin, F., & Cevher, F. N. (2007). A general review of family-child relationships at Turkish Society [Turk toplumunda aile-cocuk iliskilerine genel bir bakis]. Proceedings from ICANAS 38: 38th International Congress of Asian and North African Studies. Ankara, Turkey.

  • Ünal, F., & Kök, E. E. (2015). 0-6 yaş çocuğu olan ebeveynlerin babalık rolüne ilişkin görüşleri. International Journal of Social Sciences and Education Research, 1(4), 1142–1153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (2021). The panas-x: manual for the positive & negative affect schedule-expanded form. https://www2.psychology.uiowa.edu/faculty/clark/panas-x.pdf. Accessed March 13 2021.

  • Yüce-Selvi, Ü., & Kantaş, Ö. (2019). The psychometric evaluation of the maternal employment guilt scale: A development and validation study. İş, Güç: Endüstri İlişkileri ve İnsan Kaynakları Dergisi, 21(1), 28–52. https://doi.org/10.4026/isguc.543449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yurtsever, M., K. & Kılıçkaya, A. (2016). Geleneksel annelik ölçeği’nin psikometrik özellikleri: geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması. İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi, 5(8), 2867–2881. https://doi.org/10.15869/itobiad.258548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zafer, A. B. (2013). Cumhuriyet ile birlikte değişen Türk aile yapısı ve kadının durumu. Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 14(24), 121–134.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Atatürk Faculty of Education, Marmara University, 34722/ Kadıköy, İstanbul, Turkey

    Mustafa Polat, Derya Eryiğit, Bilge Nuran Aydoğdu & Halil Ekşi

  2. Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, İstanbul Medeniyet University, İstanbul, Turkey

    Füsun Ekşi

Authors
  1. Mustafa Polat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Derya Eryiğit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bilge Nuran Aydoğdu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Füsun Ekşi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Halil Ekşi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Derya Eryiğit.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Considerations

This study has been confirmed as ethically appropriate by the Marmara University Educational Sciences Institute Ethics Committee.

Conflict of Interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Polat, M., Eryiğit, D., Aydoğdu, B.N. et al. Adapting the Guilt About Parenting Scale (GAPS) to Turkish culture: Validity and reliability study. Curr Psychol 42, 18099–18107 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03007-z

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03007-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation