Parent-adolescent Communication: Validation of a German Language Scale and Its Association With Child Mental Health

Parent-Child Relations Clinical Trial

Official title: Validierung Eines Psychometrischen Fragebogens Zur Eltern-Kind-Kommunikation im Selbstbericht

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

A German version of the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS, Barnes & Olson, 1982) will be validated in a large sample of children (10-18 years) and their parents. As a secondary objective, the association of communication quality, children's somatic symptoms and mental health will be explored.

Clinical Trial Description

The quality of parent-child communication (pcc) is likely to be of importance for child mental health, especially during adolescence. Therefore, pcc is relevant in etiologic research, diagnostics, and as a possible target for intervention in at-risk and clinical populations.

Up to now, there is no validated questionnaire in German language to assess pcc as parent and child self-report. A German translation of the widely used Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS, Barnes & Olson, 1982) will be validated in this study. This questionnaire comprises 20 items that are identical in parent and child versions apart from the referent (my mother/my father/my daughter/my son). In the original scale, two subscales were found via factor analysis: Open communication and problems in communication (ten items each). Internal consistency was adequate in most studies. Several studies have shown associations between pcc and child mental health.

In the current study, the primary aim is to validate the questionnaire in a community, an at-risk, and a clinical sample, with the at-risk sample comprising parent-child dyads with parents seeking parenting advice. The clinical sample will be recruited among in- and outpatients at the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Discriminative validity will be assessed in terms of group differences, construct validity in terms of correlations with different subscales on the parent-child relationship. With regard to the factorial structure, an exploratory factor analysis will be performed. As a secondary aim, the association between somatic symptoms, mental health, and pcc will be studied. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Parent-Child Relations

• NCT number: NCT05332236
• Study type: Observational
• Source: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
• Status: Completed
• Start date: May 20, 2022
• Completion date: August 31, 2023