Parental Rejecting Behaviors: Validating a Behaviorally Based Youth-Report Measure of Parental Emotional Abuse

Positive and warm parental attitudes are associated with better social and emotional child functioning, whereas negative or rejecting parental attitudes are associated with poor outcomes, such as aggression, impaired self-esteem, and emotional instability. The current study investigated the reliability and validity of scores on an interview adaptation of a measure of parental rejecting behavior (PRB) in a sample of detained adolescents. Participants (N = 198) completed a measure assessing their memories of the frequency of specific parental behaviors associated with rejection and self-report measures of exposure to abuse/neglect and community violence, and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. PRB scores were internally consistent and associated with several kinds of child maltreatment. PRB scores correlated uniquely with indices of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology, even after controlling for indices of overall child maltreatment or a specific index of emotional abuse. The pattern of correlations suggests that the measure provides a valid index of parental emotional abuse, which may help identify youth at risk for both internalizing and externalizing disorders.