Parenting styles have been a central construct in the field of parenting and child development studies. Many decades of research have supported the impact of parenting styles on several aspects of the social and emotional adjustment of children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties and the factorial validity of the Portuguese version of the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire, through confirmatory factor analysis. Data were collected from 2081 participants (1085 mothers; 996 fathers) with children between 3 and 15 years old. Results replicated the original three-factor structure: authoritative, authoritarian and permissive. The results of confirmatory analysis indicated a good fit of the model. Authoritative and authoritarian factors showed good internal reliability coefficients, but the permissive factor presented values slightly below acceptable levels. Convergent and discriminant validity also showed appropriate values. In general, and despite the less acceptable levels of internal reliability demonstrated by the permissive factor, PSDQ revealed psychometric properties appropriate for research and clinical purposes. This instrument not only allows for the assessment of parenting styles, but also enables the measurement of parental dimensions and behaviors with a significant impact on child and adolescent well-being.
Parenting styles; confirmatory factor analysis; psychometric properties
