Confirmatory factor analyses of the Parent Attributions Questionnaire among Asian immigrant mothers

Abstract

The present study examined the factor structure of maternal attributions regarding their caregiving experiences, measured by the Parent Attributions Questionnaire, among Asian immigrant mothers. Chinese and Korean immigrant mothers (N = 333, mean age (Mage) = 36.79 years, standard deviation (SD) = 4.79) with preschool children (Mage = 4.43 years, SD = 1.31) reported their attributions regarding the reasons for their success and failure at seven daily caregiving tasks, and demographic information. Three structure models were tested: the unidimensional structure model; the internal–external structure model; and the controllable–uncontrollable structure model. Results revealed that the controllability-based structure fitted the data better than the unidimensional or locus-based structure of parental attributions. Metric and partial scalar invariance of the controllability-based model were established between Chinese and Korean immigrant mothers. Asian immigrant mothers focused on whether the causes for the parenting outcomes were controllable or uncontrollable when attributing the causes of their caregiving experiences. The superiority of the controllable–uncontrollable over the internal–external structure model in this sample may reflect Asian immigrant mothers’ Confucian-based heritage cultural emphasis on their responsibility for creating optimal childrearing for their children.