Reliability and Validity of the Parental Alienation Scale for Divorced Parents in Japan (PASPJ)

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a scale of parental alienation for divorced Japanese parents (PASPJ) with reference to the Rowlands Parental Alienation Scale (Rowlands, 2019), and to verify its reliability and validity. A survey was conducted of 648 people with divorce experience and children aged 15 or younger, regarding provisional items for the PASPJ, parent-child relationships, and life satisfaction. A factor analysis of the PASPJ’s provisional items yielded five factors: “lack of positive affect toward one parent,” “presence of borrowed scenarios,” “unconditional reflexive support for the other parent,” “campaign of denigration,” and “independent thinker.” A two-factor analysis of variance revealed that separated parents had higher scores than parents living with their children in “lack of positive affect toward one parent,” “presence of borrowed scenarios,” and “unconditional reflexive support for the other parent.” Furthermore, the correlation between PASPJ, parent-child relationship scale and life satisfaction scale showed an expected association, while “independent thinker” showed an association contrary to expectations. From these, We developed the PASPJ, which consists of four subscales excluding “independent thinkers.”