(PS10-A24) Establishing Psychometric Properties and Norms of the Conflict Tactics Scale—parent-child Version in a Taiwanese Community Sample

There are few measures that accurately and sensitively assess caregivers’ discipline strategies and risk in suspected cases of child maltreatment in Taiwan. The Conflict Tactics Scale—Parent-Child Version (CTSPC) is a 35-item caregiver-report measure used to evaluate behavioral management strategies of children under the age of 18, including discipline strategies indicative of different types of child maltreatment. The items yield scores for three primary scales (i.e., Nonviolent Discipline [ND], Psychological Aggression [PSA], and Physical Assault [PHA]) and three supplemental scales (i.e., Sexual Abuse, Neglect, and Weekly Discipline). The purpose of the present study was to establish the psychometric properties and norms for the CTSPC in a Taiwanese community sample. A total of 318 caregivers aged 24 to 58 (mothers = 79.2%; fathers = 19.2%; other = 1.6%) of 2- to-12-year-old children (boys = 52.8%) were recruited from northern, middle, southern, and eastern geographic regions in Taiwan. A series of questionnaires, including the CTSPC, were administered in random order to the caregivers. The internal consistency, convergent validity, and clinical cut-off scores were established and factor structure examined on the 22 items comprising the three primary scales of the CTSPC. The 12 items in the supplemental scales were excluded from analyses because they do not conceptually reflect conflict management tactics. Internal consistency for the ND (alphas ranged from .55 to .67), PSA (alphas ranged from .47 to .76), and PHA (alphas ranged from .71 to .73) scales was low to moderate for the total sample and for child gender (male/female) and age (2-6 years versus 7-12 years). Convergent validity of the three primary scales was confirmed in the entire Taiwanese sample, as positive correlations were obtained with the CTSPC and the Externalizing Problem Scale of  the Child Behavior Checklist (ND: r = .26; PSA: r = .39; PHA: r = .35), with the CTSPC and the Intensity Scale of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) (ND: r = .35; PSA: r = .42; PHA: r = .36), and with the CTSPC and the Problem Scale of the ECBI (ND: r = .23; PSA: r = .38; PHA: r = .28). Using the ≥ 90th percentile as the criterion, the clinical cut-off scores of the ND, PSA, and PHA scales for Taiwanese children aged 2-6 were 57, 50, and 52, and for Taiwanese children aged 7-12 were 50, 34, and 33. The results of exploratory factor analyses demonstrated that a four-factor model (including verbal aggression, threat and minor assault, harsh punishment, and severe assault) best described the structure of the CTSPC items in the Taiwan sample. This differs from the theoretically proposed 3-factor structure. The preliminary results suggest acceptable psychometric properties and different cut-off values of the three CTSPC primary scales for children in the Taiwanese community sample. Future studies should further examine the psychometric properties of the CTSPC with Taiwanese families at risk for or having a substantiated history of child maltreatment, as this can assist in determining whether there is a need to use the new factor structure and obtain different cut-off values for future use in assessing parenting behaviors related to abuse with Taiwanese families.