Date of Award

1999

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Psychology

Keywords

Psychology, Developmental.

Supervisor

Hakim-Larson, J.

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

As a result of research over the last decade, Gottman developed meta-emotion theory (Gottman, Katz, & Hooven, 1997). Meta-emotion refers to one's thoughts and feelings about emotion. The meta-emotion construct is intended to capture parents' fundamental attitude toward emotion in themselves and their children. In research to date, the meta-emotion philosophy of the parent has been determined through a lengthy, structured interview. Gottman (1997) has written a book for parents and included a brief self-report questionnaire derived from the structured interview. Although current research uses the structured interview, it would be beneficial if the self-test could be used in research rather than the lengthy structured interview. The current research evaluated the internal consistency, the test-retest reliability, and the construct validity of this new measure. Participants were also asked for their thoughts and feelings about the research and the new measure. Eighty-nine mothers and eleven fathers completed the questionnaire once. A subset of the sample (71 mothers and 9 fathers) completed the questionnaires a second time (interval range 60--90 days). The internal consistency of the measure was good for three of the parenting styles, but was poor for the fourth parenting style. The test-retest reliability was statistically significant for all four parenting styles. The predominant parenting style changed from the first to the second administration for less than ten percent of participants. The construct validity was poor. Participants reported that the current study was interesting and informative, but indicated that the response format was too restrictive and that some items were difficult to answer. Unexpectedly, participants represented only two of the four parenting styles. Although limited by certain considerations, this study provides some evidence for the reliability and limited validity of this new measure, and further refinement would likely add to improving the measure's psychometric properties.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1999 .L43. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-03, page: 0785. Adviser: J. Hakim-Larson. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1999.

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