Perceived parental confirmation: Development and validation of an instrument

Abstract

The purpose of this study was (a) to develop and validate a behavior‐oriented instrument based on the Cissna and Sieburg (1981) systemization of the confirmation construct, (b) to explore the extent to which young adults who perceive that their parents exhibited confirming and disconfirming behaviors feel confirmed or disconfirmed, (c) to describe confirming and disconfirming behaviors in terms of the degree of confirmation or disconfirmation that particular behaviors elicit, and (d) to examine the relationship between perceived parental confirmation behavior and sons ‘and daughters’ self‐perceptions of global self‐worth, intellectual ability, creative ability, and appearance. Results indicate that the final 28‐item Parent Confirmation Behavior Indicator (PCBI) is valid and reliable. After controlling for gender, ethnicity, age, and family structure, the confirmation behavior of mothers uniquely explained 49% of the variance in respondents’ feelings of confirmation; fathers’ confirmation behavior uniquely accounted for 62.4% of the variance. Although not completely consistent, disconfirming behaviors appear to occur in recognizable clusters that can be arranged in a hierarchy from most to least disconfirming. A hierarchy for confirming behaviors is less recognizable. For sons, mothers’ and fathers’ confirmation behavior is a significant predictor of self‐perceptions of global self‐worth, intellectual ability, creative ability, and appearance. For daughters, mothers’ and fathers’ confirmation behavior is a significant predictor of global self worth. Mothers’ behavior also predicts daughters’ self‐perception of intellectual ability, whereas fathers'behavior predicts daughters’ self‐perception of appearance.