THE PARENTAL REACTIONS TO ADOLESCENTS' NEGATIVE EMOTIONS SCALE (PRANES): SCALE CONSTRUCTION AND PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES

Abstract

The present study examined parental reactions to the adolescents’ negative emotions. Study 1 elucidated the concerns adolescents expressed negative emotions over, the associated parental reactions and the effect felt by the adolescents following their parents’ responses. Results suggest both similarities and differences in the adolescents’ concerns and parental reactions vis-a-vis those established with children. Study 2 involved the development of a self-report measure assessing parental reactions to the adolescents’ sadness and anger. Five theoretical subscales were created for the Parental Reactions to Adolescents’ Negative Emotions Scale (PRANES), which was subjected to three sets of analyses. On measurement analyses, results showed that the four-factor structure underlies the five parental reactions. On validity analyses, some parental reactions were similar to and other reactions differ from those in the existing literature. In relations to parents and adolescents demographics, parental and adolescent’s gender differences in reactions were found for each discrete negative emotion.