Childhood Emotional Incest Scale (CEIS): Development, validation, cross-validation, and reliability

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Family Studies
• Child Development

Background:

• Emotional incest, where parents rely on children for emotional needs, is under-researched due to a lack of measurement tools.
• This dynamic represents a maladaptive parent-child relationship with potential long-term impacts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an empirically based measure for childhood emotional incest.
• To assess the scale's reliability, validity, and utility in psychological research.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 12-item, 2-factor scale (Surrogate Spouse, Unsatisfactory Childhood) based on expert opinion and preliminary data.
• Validation through two studies with university student samples (N=319 and N=415), including gender invariance testing.
• Assessing convergent and divergent validity with related constructs and predictive validity for life satisfaction and anxiety.

Main Results:

• The Childhood Emotional Incest Scale (CEIS) demonstrated a robust 2-factor structure and cross-gender invariance.
• CEIS showed significant convergent validity with emotional neglect (r=0.58) and abuse (r=0.52), and divergent validity with positive childhood memories (r=-0.54).
• CEIS scores were stronger predictors of decreased life satisfaction and increased anxiety compared to parentification measures.

Conclusions:

• The CEIS is a reliable and valid instrument for the retrospective assessment of childhood emotional incest experiences in adults.
• The scale can advance research in counseling, psychology, and education, particularly concerning the etiology and outcomes of emotional incest.
• Findings support the CEIS's utility in promoting healthier parenting and relational dynamics.