Development of a new inventory for assessing memories of parental rearing behaviour

Abstract

A new inventory (EMBU) to assess the own memories of parental rearing behaviour was constructed. EMBU is comprised of 81 questions grouped in 15 subscales and two additional questions referring to consistency and strictness of parental rearing behaviour to be answered in a four-step scale for the father and for the mother separately. The subscales cover rearing practices as for eexample overinvolment, affection, overprotectiveness, guilt engendering, rejection. 152 healthy subjects of both sexes (108 males and 44 females) completed the inventory. The item analysis showed that both parents attained similar scores in about half of the questions. Fathers scored higher in items referring to strictness, punishment and a low degree of involvement whereas mothers scored higher in items referring to involvement and affection. A principal component factor analysis permitted the hypothesized subscales to be identified. An analysis of the internal consistency of the subscales revealed a high frequency of significant internal correlations. A principal component factor analysis of the total scores of the 15 subscales allowed three main dimensions of rearing behaviour to be identified quite close to those reported in similar studies in the literature where other scales had been used.