Parents’ Attributions and Perception Questionnaire: Turkish validity and reliability study

Abstract

Causal attributions are defined as the way people describe and evaluate their or others’ behaviors. In the literature, it was found to directly and indirectly affect academic achievement as they influence parents’ expectations about their children’s future success, their parenting styles, and, therefore, the social and physical environment that they provide for their children. This study adapts the Parents’ Attributions and Perceptions Questionnaire (PAPQ) to Turkish and collects evidence about the questionnaire’s validity and reliability. The questionnaire comprises eight factors and 24 items designed to evaluate parents’ causal attributions based on ability, effort, luck, and strategy for success and failure. The participants were 340 parents (235 mothers and 105 fathers), aged between 25 and 35 years (128); and high school graduates (182) with a monthly income between 2,001 and 4,000 TL (98). The mean scores calculated for the questionnaire items ranged between 1.45 and 4.42. Adjusted item total correlations were calculated; it was found that the discriminating power of the items varied between 0.43 and 0.90. As a result of the CFA, the goodness of fit values of the questionnaire was calculated as χ²/sd = 1.92, RMSEA = .056, SRMR = .053, CFI = .97, and GFI = .89. The Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient was found to be .80. Based on these results, it was demonstrated that the PAPQ is a valid and reliable measuring instrument that can be used in Turkish.