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Parental Involvement in Adolescent Abortion

Parental Involvement in Adolescent Abortion is a 23-item measure of various family functioning and religiosity variables among adolescent females presenting to an abortion clinic with a parent. Items ask who the adolescent informed about the pregnancy, how comfortable the adolescent felt telling her parents and how she feels about the requirement of parental consent to obtain an abortion in her state.

Categories

Geographies Tested: United States of America

Populations Included: Female

Age Range: Adolescents

Items:

1. How religious are your parents? (respond for both mother and father)

Response Options:
Against religion
Not at all religious
Somewhat religious
Very religious
Super religious

2. Who came with you to clinic today?

Response Options:
Mother (or other adult female with whom you live)
Father (or other adult male with whom you live)
Both parents
Other

3. Was this pregnancy the result of forced sex?

Response Options:
Yes
No

4. Do you feel free to talk about sex in your family?
5. Do you feel free to talk about birth control in your family?

Response Options:
No
With both your parents
Mother only
Father only
Others (explain)

6. How often does your mother attend church?
7. How often does your father attend church?

Response Options:
Never
Occasionally-on holidays
Often-as desired
Every single week
More than once a week

8. After discovering you were pregnant, who did you first decide to talk to for support?

Response Options:
Sexual partner or boyfriend
Mother
Father
Both parents
Another adult (explain)
Friend your own age

9. How long did you wait to tell a parent you were pregnant?

Response Options:
Told immediately
Waited until you knew for sure
Waited 1-2 weeks after you knew
Waited longer than 2 weeks after you knew

10. Have there been other sources of stress (such as divorce, death, job change, etc.) in your family in the last 12 months?

Response Options:
No
One other
Two other
More than two

11. When something stressful happens in yoru family, how much trouble does it cause?

Response Options:
No trouble
Very little trouble
Some trouble
A lot of trouble

12. How do you feel about being required to tell a parent about your pregnancy?

Response Options:
Angry
Doesn't matter
Wanted to tell anyway
Other (explain)

13. Which parent did you tell?

Response Options:
Both parents
Mother only
Father only
Other (please explain)

14. When you told, what was the very first thing heshe said? How helpful was this response?
15. When you told, what was the very first thing heshe did? How helpful was this response?
16. After you told, what did heshe later say? How helpful was this response?
17. What did you parent(s) arrange for you to do when you leave the clinic today? How helpful is this arrangement?

Response Options:
Extremely helpful
Very helpful
Somewhat helpful
Somewhat unhelpful
Very unhelpful

18. How do you feel now about telling the parent you told?

Response Options:
Glad you told
Sorry you told
Why?

19. If you chose not to tell one of your parents, how do you feel now about not involving himher?

Response Options:
Glad you haven't told
Sorry you haven't told
Unsure at this point
Why?

20. In general, how would you rate your parents' response to your pregnancy?

Response Options:
Extremely helpful
Very helpful
Somewhat helpful
Somewhat unhelpful
Very unhelpful

21. Does your mother read religious books andor watch religious TV shows?
22. Does your father read religious books andor what religious TV shows?

Response Options:
Never
Occasionally
Every week
More than once a week
Daily

23. How do you expect your parent(s) to treat you in the next few weeks? How helpful will this response be?

Response Options:
Extremely helpful
Very helpful
Somewhat helpful
Somewhat unhelpful
Very unhelpful

Quality variable: Items #14, #15, #16, #17, #20, and #23
Religiosity variable: Items #1, #6, #7, #21, and #22
Democratic Parenting variable: Items #2, #3, #4, #5, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #18, #19.

Scoring Procedures

Not Applicable

Original Citation

Griffin-Carlson, M. S., & Schwanenflugel, P. J. (1998). Adolescent abortion and parental notification: Evidence for the importance of family functioning on the perceived quality of parental involvement in U.S. families. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39(4), 543-553. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00350


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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