Parental warmth is a treatment target of emerging interventions for children with callous-unemotional traits. However, research to date has yet to examine the empirical structure of parental warmth toward young children due to the lack of clinically feasible, psychometrically sound, and comprehensive measures of warmth for this population. To address this knowledge gap, the present study developed and tested the psychometric properties of a self-report measure of parental warmth, the Parental Affection/Warmth Scale (PAWS). A sample of 899 parents of 2- to 8-year-old children (M = 4.77 years, SD = 1.95; 46.1% girls) was recruited online using Amazon's Mechanical Turk and CloudResearch. Exploratory factor analysis identified a novel three-factor structure: Warmth, Toddler-oriented Interaction, and Play-based Interaction, which was validated by a confirmatory factor analysis. However, only the PAWS Warmth subscale functioned consistently with theoretical expectations. PAWS Warmth scores were internally consistent; convergent with existing positive parenting scales; discriminant from negative parenting scales; and concurrent with child empathy, callous-unemotional traits, and conduct problems. Findings have implications for refining treatment targets for interventions focused on enhancing parental warmth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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在 2 至 8 岁父母样本中开发和验证父母情感/温暖量表 （PAWS）。


父母的温暖是针对具有冷酷无情特征的儿童的新兴干预措施的治疗目标。然而，迄今为止的研究尚未检验父母对幼儿温暖的经验结构，因为缺乏临床上可行的、心理测量学上合理的和全面的温暖测量方法。为了解决这一知识差距，本研究开发并测试了父母温暖度的自我报告测量方法，即父母情感/温暖量表 （PAWS） 的心理测量特性。使用亚马逊的 Mechanical Turk 和 CloudResearch 在线招募了 899 名 2 至 8 岁儿童（M = 4.77 岁，SD = 1.95;46.1% 的女孩）的父母样本。探索性因子分析确定了一种新的三因素结构：温暖、面向幼儿的互动和基于游戏的互动，该结构通过验证性因子分析进行了验证。然而，只有 PAWS Warmth 分量表的功能与理论预期一致。PAWS Warmth 评分是内部一致的;与现有的积极育儿量表趋同;区分与消极育儿量表;并伴有儿童同理心、冷酷无情的特质和行为问题。研究结果对完善以增强父母温暖为重点的干预措施的治疗目标具有意义。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。