[Prospective study of children's perceptions of parental behavior: psychometric properties of the Hungarian version of the EMBU-C questionnaire].

BACKGROUND

Preliminary research findings show that the parental rearing behaviour has a basic effect on the psychosocial development of the child, moreover, the inadequate parenting is related to some psychopathology occurring in childhood and adulthood. One reason in the development of this research subject was the appearance of the questionnaires, which judge the quality of the parenting and its effects by the children's recollections. Recently, there are new prospective instruments to remove the memory biases. The aim of this study was to standardize on a Hungarian sample one of these instruments, EMBU-C, made for primary school aged children.

METHODS

Primary school aged children (7-12 year old) were examined (n=108). Beyond demographic data the item base of the EMBU-C and the STAIC inventory were filled up.

RESULTS

It was demonstrated the four factor structure of the EMBU-C (the names of the factors are respectively: Emotional warmth, Rejection, Overprotection and Favouring subject). The internal consistency of the inventory was in accordance with the international data. The concurrent validity also was proved by the STAIC. The recorded data are in accordance to the adolescent and adult versions of the EMBU. The most important result is that the parental rejection and overprotection may be related to the children's anxiety symptoms. Another important result is that the primary school aged children are disposed to interpret the intrusion component of the parental overprotection as emotional warmth that differs from adolescent and adult results.

CONCLUSIONS

The successful standardization of the EMBU-C in Hungarian sample has positive consequences both to the clinical work and the research attempts, because it allows the investigation of the parental correlates of childhood psychopathologies, as well as the comparison of the results between different cohorts and international samples.