Perceptions of Parents Scales (POPS)

(Scale Description; The Child Scale; The College-Student Scale)

Download the Perceptions of Parents packet in a Word file

Description of the Scales

The Perceptions of Parents Scales concern the degree to which parents provide what SDT considers an optimal
parenting context (Grolnick, Deci, & Ryan, 1997). The scales are completed by children to describe their
mothers and their fathers.

The Child Scale

The child version of the POPS assesses children’s perceptions of the degree to which their parents are autonomy
supportive and the degree to which their parents are involved. Involvement concerns devoting resources to
their children--that is, being available to them, knowledgeable about their lives, and concerned about what is
going on for them. Thus, mothers and fathers each get a score on the degree to which they are perceived as
autonomy supportive and involved by their children. Factor analysis of the scale has revealed a clear four-
factor solution with factors labeled mother involvement, mother autonomy support, father involvement, and
father autonomy support.

The child POPS was developed, by Grolnick, Ryan, and Deci (1991). It has 22 items, 11 mother items and then
the same 11 items for fathers. These items form an autonomy support subscale for each parent and an
involvement subscale for each parent. Because the scale is used with children as young as 8 years old, and
often in classroom settings, we have the children respond right on the questionnaire by circling a letter in front
of the one (out of four) description of a parent that is most like their own parent.

The College-Student Scale

The college-student version of the POPS is intended for use with participants who are late adolescents or older.
It also assesses children’s perceptions of their parents’ autonomy support and involvement, but in addition it
assesses the degree to which the children perceive their parents to provide warmth. The scale has 42 items: 21
for mothers and 21 for fathers. From these items, 6 subscale scores are calculated: Mother Autonomy Support,
Mother Involvement, and Mother Warmth, as well as Father Autonomy Support, Father Involvement, and
Father Warmth.

This questionnaire was designed as part of a doctoral dissertation titled, “ An assessment of perceptions of
parental autonomy support and control: Child and parent correlates,” done by Robert J. Robbins in the
Department of Psychology at the University of Rochester under the supervision of Richard M. Ryan. The
Robbins (1994) dissertation provided preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the scale. This
study linked parental autonomy support to autonomy-related child outcomes, including self-esteem, self-
regulation, mental health, and causality orientations. It also showed that high perceived parental autonomy
support was associated with greater vitality and self-actualization, while low perceived parental autonomy
support was associated with greater separation-individuation difficulty. A more recent longitudinal study by
Niemiec, Ryan, and Deci (2009) adds further reliability and validity evidence for the scale.

Data collected from the parents of the college-student participants revealed that student perceptions of paternal
autonomy support were positively associated with fathers' self-reported self-esteem and mental health, and that
student perceptions of maternal autonomy support were positively associated with the degree of autonomous
causality orientation in mothers.

The Perceptions of Parents Scales versus The Climate Scales

The scales called Perceived Autonomy Support: The Climate Questionnaires, which appear in a different packet
within the questionnaires section of this web site, are somewhat related to the POPS. Both sets of
questionnaires involve individuals reporting their perceptions of a target other. However, there are the
following differences. First, all of The Climate Questionnaires were designed for use with college students or
other adults, whereas one of the POPS was designed for children. Furthermore, The Climate Questionnaires
assess only perceptions of autonomy support, whereas the POPS also assesses perceived involvement in both
the child and the college-student versions, and it assesses perceived warmth in the college-student version. We
have never used a “Climate Questionnaire” with respect to parents, although one could potentially do so.

References

Grolnick, W. S., Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1997). Internalization within the family: The self-determination
theory perspective. In J. E. Grusec & L. Kuczynski (Eds.), Parenting and children’s internalization of values:
A handbook of contemporary theory (pp. 135-161). New York: Wiley.

Grolnick, W. S., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (1991). The inner resources for school performance: Motivational
mediators of children's perceptions of their parents. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83, 508-517.

Robbins, R. J. (1994). An assessment of perceptions of parental autonomy support and control: Child and
parent correlates. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Psychology, University of Rochester,
1994.

Niemiec, C. P., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2009). The path taken: Consequences of attaining intrinsic and
extrinsic aspirations in post-college life. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 291-306.
 **************

The College-Student Scale

Thoughts about My Parents

Please answer the following questions about your mother and your father. If you do not have any contact with
one of your parents (for example, your father), but there is another adult of the same gender living with your
house (for example, a stepfather) then please answer the questions about that other adult.

If you have no contact with one of your parents, and there is not another adult of that same gender with whom
you live, then leave the questions about that parent blank.

Please use the following scale:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
not at all true somewhat true very true

First, questions about your mother.

1. My mother seems to know how I feel about things.

2. My mother tries to tell me how to run my life.

3 My mother finds time to talk with me.

4. My mother accepts me and likes me as I am.

5. My mother, whenever possible, allows me to choose what to do.

6. My mother doesn't seem to think of me often.

7. My mother clearly conveys her love for me.

8. My mother listens to my opinion or perspective when I've got a problem.

9. My mother spends a lot of time with me.

10. My mother makes me feel very special.

11. My mother allows me to decide things for myself.

12. My mother often seems too busy to attend to me.

13. My mother is often disapproving and unaccepting of me.

14. My mother insists upon my doing things her way.

15. My mother is not very involved with my concerns.

16. My mother is typically happy to see me.

17. My mother is usually willing to consider things from my point of view.

18. My mother puts time and energy into helping me.

19. My mother helps me to choose my own direction.

20. My mother seems to be disappointed in me a lot.

21. My mother isn't very sensitive to many of my needs.

Now questions about your father.

22. My father seems to know how I feel about things.

23. My father tries to tell me how to run my life.

24. My father finds time to talk with me.

25. My father accepts me and likes me as I am.

26. My father, whenever possible, allows me to choose what to do.

27. My father doesn't seem to think of me often.

28. My father clearly conveys his love for me.

29. My father listens to my opinion or perspective when I've got a problem.

30. My father spends a lot of time with me.

31. My father makes me feel very special.

32. My father allows me to decide things for myself.

33. My father often seems too busy to attend to me.

34. My father is often disapproving and unaccepting of me.

35. My father insists upon my doing things his way.

36. My father is not very involved with my concerns.

37. My father is typically happy to see me.

38. My father is usually willing to consider things from my point of view.

39. My father puts time and energy into helping me.

40. My father helps me to choose my own direction.

41. My father seems to be disappointed in me a lot.

42. My father isn't very sensitive to many of my needs.

Scoring Information. First, scores on the following items must be reversed: 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 23, 27,
33, 34, 35, 36, 41, 42. To do that, subtract the response from 8 and use the result as the item score. Then form
subscale scores by averaging the scores of the items on that subscale, as shown below.

Mother Involvement: 3, 6(R), 9, 12(R), 15(R), 18

Mother Autonomy Support: 1, 2(R), 5, 8, 11, 14(R), 17, 19, 21(R)

Mother Warmth:
4, 7, 10, 13(R), 16, 20(R)

Father Involvement: 24, 27(R), 30, 33(R), 36(R), 39

Father Autonomy Support: 22, 23(R), 26, 29, 32, 35(R), 38, 40, 42(R)

Father Warmth:

25, 28, 31, 34(R), 37, 41(R)

An (R) after an item number is simply a reminder that that item needs to be reverse scored before being
averaged.