Factor analysis of reports of parental behavior by children living in divorced and married families.

Abstract

To determine whether or not responses to the Child's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory (CRPBI) would yield similar factors for children living in divorced families and for children living in married families, responses to the 56-item six-scale version of the CRPBI were obtained from 29 children living with their divorced mothers and from 30 children living with their married parents. All children were between seven and 11 years of age. Socioeconomic characteristics of the two types of families were similar except for income. Each child completed the inventory for both the mother and the father. Scale totals for each family structure and sex of parent were intercorrelated separately and subjected to a principal axis factor analysis with Varimax rotation. Three factors emerged for children's reports of married mothers, married fathers, and divorced fathers; however, two factors emerged for children's reports of divorced mothers. While the unique factor structure observed for children's reports of divorced mothers may be a function of the instrument's being more valid for reports of parental behavior by children living with married parents, alternative explanations were discussed. Results of the study appear to lend empirical support to Weiss' theory of the structure and functioning of single-parent households.