How Are Parental Attitudes Measured?

Elements of Parental Attitudes

• According to McLeod's 2009 article, published at Simply Psychology, parental attitude measures focus on three primary elements of attitude ̵1; ̶0;cognitive, affective and behavioral.̶1; The cognitive element of attitude refers to the thought processes and belief systems that support parents' attitudes toward child rearing. The affective aspect of attitude relates to the feelings associated with parenting, the emotional foundation of a person's approach to child rearing. The behavioral component of parental attitudes has to do with the actions of parenting and the degree to which those actions reflect stated beliefs and feelings. The 1989 ̶0;Psychological Bulletin̶1; paper states that ̶0;the intention to respond in a particular way̶1; or planned parenting action also fits into the behavioral component of attitude.

Direct Measure Approach

• Surveys and questionnaires are still the basic tools of parental attitude measurement because asking questions is the only way to get the detailed information required for attitude assessment. A direct measure approach directly targets the information sought. For example, if seeking information on parental attitudes regarding corporal punishment, the question or statement requiring response would relate to spanking, whether a certain type of misdeed deserves that response, or some similar spanking-connected scenario. However, this direct approach isn't always accurate because responses often are inhibited by how a person thinks an answer will be judged. So, if a parent thinks the questioner believes corporal punishment is poor parenting, even if he does spank, he may not admit it.

Indirect Measure Techniques

• These techniques use a far more subtle approach in hope of avoiding the limitations of the direct approach. Questions or statements are shaped so that it is not obvious exactly what information is being sought. They may seem to be targeting one thing, while in reality are seeking something else altogether. Returning to the corporal punishment example, a parent may see a question asking how they feel when they see a parent spank a child in a park for injuring another child. If the parent has a strongly negative response, it could indicate that she doesn't spank her own children. A positive or neutral response could be an indication of being open to spanking or using spanking as punishment. The indirect approach can require more interpretation on the part of the questioner, running the risk of significant inaccuracies.

Behavior Has Its Complexities

• The interplay between feelings, beliefs and actions is quite complex and the degree to which parental behavior reflects beliefs can vary. A person may believe personally in spanking, for example, but know that most people in her social set look down on spanking and think poorly of parents that spank. She may refrain from spanking, even though she sees nothing wrong with it, because she wants her peers to think well of her. Parental attitude measures cannot be used as a predictive tool to determine how a parent will behave. Current literature stresses that they should only be used in conjunction with other methods of parental assessment. Attitude measures are best used for general research purposes, and if used in individual assessment and treatment, should be one of many tools and measures employed.