Emotional Availability Scale Among Three U.S. Race/Ethnic Groups.

Abstract

This study used a cross-sectional design to conduct a subgroup psychometric analysis of the Emotional Availability Scale among matched Hispanic ( n = 20), African American ( n = 20), and European American ( n = 10) English-speaking mother-child dyads in the United States. Differences by race/ethnicity were tested ( p < .05) among (a) Emotional Availability Scale dimensions with ANOVA, and (b) relationships of Emotional Availability Scale dimensions with select Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System variables with Pearson correlation and matched moderated regression. Internal consistency was .950 (Cronbach's α; N = 50). No significant differences in the six Emotional Availability Scale dimension scores by race/ethnicity emerged. Two Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System behaviors predicted two Emotional Availability Scale dimensions each for Hispanic and African American mother-child dyads. Results suggest emotional availability similarity among race/ethnic subgroups with few predictive differences of emotional availability dimensions by specific behaviors for Hispanic and African American subgroups.