The Parent Experience Scale: A measure designed to identify problems of parents of gifted children
Abstract
The goal of this research was to design and test a psychological attitude measure intended to identify problems of parents of gifted children. After a review of the literature, 92 potential items for the scale were compiled. These items were rated for content by five expert judges and for social desirability by 37 undergraduates. Twenty-nine unreliably categorized items were discarded, leaving a 63-item scale. This scale was altered slightly to accommodate suggestions from parents in a pilot study. Next, a group of 581 parents of 663 school-aged gifted children completed this revised form, together with a demographics questionnaire. Forty-two of these parents also completed the attitude measure for 46 nongifted children in their families. In addition, 50 parents of nongifted children completed the attitude measure and the demographics questionnaire. Factor analysis revealed that the structure of the attitude measure was very complex. Items were discarded that did not correlate highly with other items, leaving a total of 24 items for the final form of the scale. This instrument yielded a normal distribution of scores and demonstrated high reliability (r$\sb{\rm alpha}$ =.82). Factor analysis indicated that the 24 items loaded on six principal components. These components corresponded to subscales that had been proposed based on the review of the literature and the content analysis: Sibling Relationships, Family Issues, Community Issues, Development of the Child, Educational Issues, and Parental Self-Concept. Cross-validation revealed the same factor structure as had the first factor analysis. Item analysis also supported the logical-empirical validity of the scale. As a test of the scale's empirical validity, it was hypothesized that the scale scores of parents of the gifted would be significantly higher than those of parents of nongifted children. This hypothesis was supported by the data for the total scale scores and for scores on subscales 3 and 5. A second hypothesis was that scale scores would be higher for gifted children than for nongifted siblings of gifted children. This hypothesis was not supported either within or across gifted families. Implications of the findings were discussed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Feldhusen, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Educational psychology|Special education
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