Development and initial validation of the me and my child interview to assess parental acceptance–rejection

Abstract

Parental acceptance–rejection exerts a key influence on child psychological adjustment. The present study aimed to contribute to this topic by focusing on the development and initial validation of a new assessment tool—that is, the Me & My Child: The Parental Acceptance-Rejection Interview. The study included 69 mothers with children aged two to 12 years. In addition to the interview, mothers completed the Me as a Parent questionnaire, which assessed parental self-regulation to test for convergent validity, as well as the short version of the Mental Health Inventory, which assessed maternal psychological problems to test for discriminant validity. Significant associations were found between higher levels of maternal acceptance and self-efficacy and self-management. Furthermore, mothers exposed to more socioeconomic risk factors in the family showed lower levels of parental acceptance. Conversely, no significant associations were observed between maternal acceptance–rejection and mental health symptoms. The intraclass correlation coefficient was found to be excellent. Overall, the findings support the Me and My Child Interview as a helpful tool for assessing parental acceptance–rejection. However, further research is required, given the exploratory nature of this study.