Examining the Construct Validity of the Parent Reflective Functioning Questionnaire 2016 Graduate Student Conference ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY September , 2016 Edmonton, Alberta MONICA DE ROO Masters of Counseling Student Thesis Committee: Shawn Fraser, Gwen Rempel, Gina Wong Faculty of Health Disciplines

To examine construct validity of the Parent Reflective Functioning Questionnaire ₁ Purpose

Research Questions A) Does the 3-factor solution of the PRFQ individually measure three different characteristics of reflective functioning? B) By exploring relationships between the PRFQ and the Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey ₃, Parenting Sense of Competence Scale ₄, Perceived Stress Scale ₅ and Parenting Coping Scale ₆ is the PRFQ capable of measuring parent reflective functioning?

Hypothesis The PRFQ will contain a 3 factor structure illustrating 3 key characteristics of reflective functioning Parent Reflective Functioning Questionnaire Pre-Mentalizing Modes PRFQ1 PRFQ4 PRFQ7 PRFQ10 PRFQ13 PRFQ16 Certainty About Mental States PRFQ17 PRFQ2 PRFQ5 PRFQ8 PRFQ11 PRFQ14 Interest and Curiosity PRFQ18 PRFQ3 PRFQ6 PRFQ9 PRFQ15 PRFQ12

Hypothesis Parent Reflective Functioning Questionnaire The PRFQ will have correlations with four other measurements and their subscales Parenting Sense of Competence Scale Perceived Stress Scale Parenting Coping Scale Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey PRFQ; PM, IC, CMS

Survey Monkey’s Audience to obtain an across Canada representative sample At least one child between the age of 0 and 12 years Canadian parents over the age of 20 and not older than 60 years of age to provide a sample of “typical” parents Methodology Participants

Methodology Perceived stress scale Parenting sense of competence scale Medical outcome study social support survey Parenting coping scale Parent reflective functioning questionnaire 18 item self-report measure to assess parental RF in parents with children ages zero to five 18 item self- report to assess perceived social support 16 item self -report measure for assessing parents’ sense of confidence and satisfaction with their parenting 4 item measure to examine the degree in which individuals see situations as stressful Single item scale to assess parent’s perception of their own ability to cope with parenting Measures

Methodology Data Analysis Fifth Step Screening for eligibility and ask parents to complete the five assessments Third Step Received ethical approval by the institutional Research Ethics Board First Step Export data to Excel, SPSS 23, R and AMOS. Fourth Step Contact Canadian parents through SurveyMonkey Audience to participate in a study of “Experiences In Parenting.”. Second Step Procedure

Data was screened for outliers and missing data using Excel The factor structure and configuration of the PRFQ was tested using the confirmatory factor analysis process in AMOS 23 graphics The relationships between measurements data were investigated using bivariate correlations in SPSS 23 PROCESS Methodology Data Analysis

Age Results Participants (n=308) % 29.7% 5.2% %

Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting. Results χ 2 /dfRMSEA(90%CI)CFINFINNFI(TLI) Initial model ( ) Model ( ) Model ( ) Model ( ) Note. RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation; CFI = comparative fit index; NFI = normed fit indexNNFI = non-normed fit index. Model 2, no 11, Model 3 no 11, 18, Model 4 correlated error terms; Fit Statistics for CFA Models Factor Structure

Results Cronbach and Meehl’s Nomological Networking ₂ PRFQ Model without items 11 & 18

Results Parenting Sense of Competence SatisfactionEfficacy Pre- Mentalizing r=.36r=.57r=-.14 Interest & Curiosity r=.17r= -.09r=.35 Certainty of Mental States r=.33r=.10r=.36 Parent Reflective Functioning QuestionnaireY r=.44r=.34r=.25 Parenting Sense of Competence Scale

Results Perceived Stress Scale Pre- Mentalizing r=.30 Interest & Curiosity r=-.17 Certainty of Mental States Negative r=-.16 Parent Reflective Functioning QuestionnaireY r =.02 Perceived Stress Scale

Results Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey Emotional- Information Affectionate Support Positive Interaction Tangible Support Pre- Mentalizing r= -.26r=-.21r= -.24r= -.23r= -.27 Interest & Curiosity r=.26 r=.19r=.28r=.22r=.27 Certainty of Mental States r=.08r=.11r=.08r=.07r=.03 Parent Reflective Functioning QuestionnaireY r=.01r=.02r=.03r=.01r=-.02

Results Parental Coping Scale Pre- Mentalizing r= -.21 Interest & Curiosity r=.37 Certainty of Mental States Negative r=.33 Parent Reflective Functioning QuestionnaireY r=.18 Parenting Coping Scale

What does it all mean? RF is an independent variable PRFQ subscales are generally related to other social cognitive variables Future research should consider including a gold standard measure such as the Parent Development Interview to compare these results observed here A follow up study should attempt replicate our findings to see if the removal of items 11 and 18 is supported in other samples Overall, the data revealed from this study further supports that the PRFQ is capable of measuring 3 distinct characteristics of PRF

References ¹Luyten, P., Mayes, L.C., Sadler, L., Fonagy, P., Nicholls, S., Crowley, M., Vesper, A., Mobley, A., Stewart, T., Close, N. & Slade A. (2009). The parental reflective functioning questionnaire-1(PRFQ-1). Leuven: University of Leuven ₂ Sherbourne & Stewart as cited in Gjesfjeld, C. D., Greeno, C. G., & Kim, K. H. (2008). A confirmatory factor analysis of an abbreviated social support instrument: The MOS- SSS. Research on Social Work Practice, 18(3), / ₃ Gibaud-Wallston & Wandersman as cited in Johnston, C., & Mash, E. J. (1989). A measure of parenting satisfaction and efficacy. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 18(2), Retrieved from ₄ Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A Global Measure of Perceived Stress. Journal of Health & Social Behavior, 24(4), Retrieved from eds.a.ebscohost.com ₅ Ghate, D. & Moran, P. (2013). The parent coping scale (PCS): An overarching measure of impact for parenting support services working to improve parental self-efficacy. Retrieved from

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