Adolescent Future Expectations Scale for Parents (AFES-p): Development and Validation

Abstract

Objectives Parents’ expectations about their children’s future comprise a key aspect of parental socialization and relate to children’s adjustment. The aims of the current research are to develop a new scale to measure parents’ expectations about their children’s future in several domains (Economic/Occupational, Academic, Personal Well-being and Family Expectations), and to analyze the psychometric properties of the scale. Methods Six hundred and sixty high school students and their parents completed the questionnaires (Adolescent Future Expectations Scale [AFES] and Adolescent Future Expectations Scale for Parents [AFES-p]). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was carried out and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test scale structure. Results CFA evidenced a good fit of the dimensions of the original model. In addition, the reliability of the scale was found to be high. Lastly, total scores and subscales scores of AFES-p correlated significantly with AFES. Conclusions Results obtained show that the Adolescent Future Expectations Scale for Parents possesses good psychometric properties and can be used objectively with parents of adolescents in the Spanish population. This instrument allows us to assess parental expectations about their adolescent children in several life domains. Besides, it could be useful in the psychoeducational field to identify possible discordance between parental and adolescents expectations.