Authoritative, Authoritarian, and Permissive Parenting Practices: Development of a New Measure

TLDR

The authors developed a 62‑item parenting questionnaire by administering a 133‑item survey to 1,251 parents, reducing items through principal axes factor analysis with varimax rotation, and confirming internal consistency via Cronbach’s alpha. The factor analysis revealed three global parenting dimensions—authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive—that align with Baumrind’s typology, each comprising several specific factors.

Abstract

A 133-item parenting questionnaire was completed by 1251 parents of preschool and school-age children. Items in this measure were reduced using principal axes factor analyses followed by varimax rotation. Three global parenting dimensions emerged consistent with Baumrind's authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive typologies. Internal consistency reliability was assessed with Cronbach alpha and additional items were deleted. A 62-item instrument was retained, and the global parenting dimensions were subsequently analyzed to assess their internal structures using principal axes factor analyses followed by oblique rotation. For each of the three global dimensions a number of specific factors were identified.