A configurational analysis of children's reports of parent behavior

Reports of discrete components of parent behavior were collected on the 26 scales of the Children's Reports of Parental Behavior Inventory. 3 replicated factors--Acceptance vs. Rejection, Psychological Autonomy vs. Psychological Control, and Firm Control vs. Lax Control--were identified from 4 correlation matrices of reports of maternal and of paternal behavior by children and by adults. Conceptual planes generated by pairs of factors differentiated Acceptance of Individuation from Loving Involvement and Hostile Involvement from Hostile Detachment. This configurational analysis facilitated the comparison of these results with other analyses of the structure of parent behavior. A spherical conceptual model for parent behavior is proposed.