Security in the Interparental Subsystem Scale – Chinese Version

Description

Parental conflict refers to the verbal disputes or physical aggression that arise between spouses due to disagreements or other reasons. Both horizontal and vertical studies have shown that children who experience more parental conflict have more adjustment issues compared to those who experience less. The level of parental conflict perceived by adolescents influences their emotional distress through cognitive evaluation, ultimately affecting social anxiety and depression. Therefore, it is crucial for parents to consciously avoid or reduce conflict, especially in front of the children. Once children become aware of parental conflict, parents should resolve the conflicts rationally to teach children reasonable conflict resolution strategies.

Authors and Contact Email

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Purpose

The primary aim is to highlight the negative impact of parental conflict on children and to provide strategies for parents to mitigate emotional distress in their children resulting from such conflicts.

Test Year

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Administration Method and Scoring

The tool for measuring emotional insecurity is the Parental Relationship Security Scale developed by Patrick T. Davies et al. A revised version of this scale has been tailored for Chinese middle school students by Wang Mingzhong, Fan Cuiying et al., selecting only three factors (Negative Emotion, Destructive Representation, and Expansive Representation) to assess adolescents’ emotional insecurity. The revised questionnaire has two dimensions, consolidating Destructive Representation and Expansive Representation into the Negative Representation dimension. The revised questionnaire uses a four-point scoring system (1 = 不符合, 2 = 一般符合, 3 = 比较符合, 4 = 完全符合).

Reliability and Validity

In Wang Mingzhong et al.’s empirical study, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for Negative Emotion and Negative Representation dimensions were 0.77 and 0.73, respectively. In Guo Zhonghui’s study, the internal consistency reliability for each dimension of the Parental Relationship Security Scale was found to be 0.833 and 0.826, indicating good reliability for the questionnaire.

Factors and Subscales

The factors include:
1. 消极情绪 (Negative Emotion)
2. 消极表征 (Negative Representation)

Keywords

Parental conflict, emotional insecurity, teenagers, conflict resolution strategies, parental relationship security scale

Items in Chinese

1. 当父母发生争吵时，我感到难过。
2. 当父母发生争吵时，我感到害怕。
3. 当父母发生争吵时，我感到愤怒。
4. 当父母发生争吵时，我感到不安全。
5. 父母争吵过后，我一整天都受影响而干不成事。
6. 父母争吵过后，我似乎无法让自己平静。
7. 父母争吵之后，我似乎无法摆脱自己的消极情绪。
8. 父母发生争吵时，我努力掩饰自己的情绪体验。
9. 父母发生争吵时，我夹在中间难受。
10. 父母发生争吵时，我禁不住不停地想他们的问题。
11. 父母发生争吵时，我觉得他们对我很厌烦。
12. 父母发生冲突，我感到是我的错。
13. 父母发生争吵时，我为家庭的未来感到忧虑。
14. 父母发生争吵时，我担心他们接着会做什么。
15. 父母发生争吵时，我知道是因为他们不知道如何相处。
16. 父母发生冲突时，我想他们会责备我。
17. 父母发生争吵时，我担心他们会分开或离婚。

Items in English

1. I feel sad when my parents argue.
2. I feel scared when my parents argue.
3. I feel angry when my parents argue.
4. I feel unsafe when my parents argue.
5. I am affected all day long and can’t accomplish anything after my parents argue.
6. I seem unable to calm myself down after my parents argue.
7. I seem unable to shake off my negative emotions after my parents argue.
8. I try to hide my emotional experiences when my parents argue.
9. I feel uncomfortable being caught in the middle when my parents argue.
10. I can’t help but keep thinking about their problems when my parents argue.
11. I feel they are annoyed with me when my parents argue.
12. I feel it’s my fault when my parents have a conflict.
13. I worry about the family’s future when my parents argue.
14. I worry about what they will do next when my parents argue.
15. I know it’s because they don’t know how to get along when my parents argue.
16. I think they will blame me when my parents have a conflict.
17. I worry that they may separate or divorce when my parents argue.

References

1. Patrick T. Davies et al.,
2. Wang Mingzhong, Fan Cuiying et al.,
3. Guo Zhonghui