Evidências de validade da Escala de Comportamentos Parentais para adolescentes brasileiros: relações com estilos parentais e habilidades sociais na perspectiva bioecológica

Abstract

Adolescence is a phase marked by intense biopsychosocial transformations, in which the family context plays a fundamental role in development. In this scenario, parenting practices and styles, especially when associated with neglect, can significantly influence the repertoire of social skills. Thus, understanding the relationships between these constructs becomes essential for promoting the healthy development of adolescents. Based on these premises, this thesis aimed to perform the cross-cultural adaptation and analysis of the psychometric properties of the Parental Neglect Perception Scale for Brazilian Adolescents, including evidence of external validity through its relationship with social skills and parenting styles, in light of the bioecological model of human development. The research sought to understand how parenting practices and contextual variables are associated with socio-emotional development in adolescence, as well as to adapt and analyze psychometric evidence from a Measure of Parenting Behaviours scale focused on assessing parental neglect in this population. For the construction of this research, a method with field research and a quantitative and qualitative approach to data was proposed. The research involved adolescents from the municipality of Santarém, aged between 12 and 17 years, enrolled in three municipal schools in the urban area of the municipality. A total of 385 adolescents participated in the study, of whom 233 were female and 152 were male. The following instruments were used for data collection: a sociodemographic questionnaire, a parenting styles inventory, a social skills inventory, and a scale of parental behaviors, for which a cross-cultural adaptation process was carried out. Descriptive, factorial, and bivariate correlational analyses (Pearson and Multiple Canonical Correlation) were performed to identify patterns of parental functioning and their relationships with the behavioral repertoire of the participants. The ethical aspects of the research involved the signing of informed consent forms for the parents and guardians of the adolescents and the informed consent form for the participants. Regarding the Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Parenting Behaviors Scale, the results confirm that the scale presents a consistent three-factor structure, empirically and theoretically supported by the dimensions of Emotional Support, Supervision, and Educational Support. The adequacy of the sample (KMO = 0.78) and the significance of the correlation matrix (Bartlett's test, p < 0.0001) demonstrate the robustness of the model and the interdependence between the analyzed items. The extraction of the three factors explains 72.8% of the total variance, indicating a high capacity for synthesis of the evaluated construct. Furthermore, the high factor loadings and satisfactory internal reliability indices (α ≥ 0.78) reinforce the internal consistency of the scale. Regarding the findings of the correlation between gender and sociodemographic variables, the results indicated that gender is not a determining factor for structural differences in sociodemographic and family conditions, reinforcing the homogeneity of the group and the absence of discriminatory patterns or marked inequalities between boys and girls in the aspects evaluated in this study. Regarding maternal practices, the Moral Behavior factor stands out as the most consistent dimension among positive practices (89.7%). On the other hand, in negative practices, Negative Monitoring (61.9%) and Physical Abuse (up to 32.7%, plus 28.7% related to fear of being hit) emerge as the most critical dimensions, evidencing a high occurrence of negative parental behaviors, such as excessive control and aggressive practices. Regarding paternal practices, positive practices were observed, notably moral behavior (70.4%), coexisting with significant negative practices such as negative monitoring (39.5%), lax discipline (43%), and neglect (30.5%), revealing an ambivalent pattern marked by inconsistency in the application of rules and emotional support. In relation to the repertoire of social skills, adolescents showed greater consistency in the dimensions of civility (up to 65.9% with no difficulty), empathy (between 51.1% and 58.3%), and self-control (up to 30.9%), indicating a good repertoire of prosocial and regulatory behaviors. Conversely, the affective approach was the dimension with the greatest deficit, presenting high percentages of difficulty (up to 36.5%) and low mastery rates (5.4%). Correlation analyses indicated that positive parenting practices, especially those related to the dimensions of positive monitoring and moral behavior of the IEP, are associated with factors of the ECP, such as emotional support (r = 0.275; p < 0.001; r = 0.198; p = 0.003) and supervision (r = 0.181; p = 0.007), showing relationships with better socioemotional indicators. Conversely, negative practices and indicators of neglect showed inverse associations with emotional support (r = -0.314; p < 0.001), indicating greater vulnerability in socioemotional development. Socioeconomic variables, such as the presence of caregivers, income, and family stability, were associated with higher levels of supervision and care, while factors such as lower education, age, and gender influenced the perception of parental support. Furthermore, some paradoxical results emerged, involving positive correlations between emotional support and negative monitoring practices (r = 0.196; p = 0.003; r = 0.207; p = 0.002) in adolescents' perception of paternal practices, suggesting the coexistence of ambivalent relational patterns. Another paradoxical finding was observed in the associations with alcohol and drug use, which showed a positive correlation with indicators of emotional support, such as helping with problems (r = 0.328; p < 0.001) and comforting when sad (r = 0.305; p < 0.001). This suggests the presence of compensatory behaviors, in which caregivers intensify support in the face of risky contexts. Overall, the results show that the development of social skills in adolescence is directly related to the quality of parenting practices and the bioecological context in which the adolescent is embedded. It is observed that, although there is a presence of well-developed social repertoires, significant deficits associated with parental inconsistency and neglect persist, reinforcing the need for interventions that promote more consistent educational practices that are sensitive to the socio-emotional demands of this stage of development. Thus, it is concluded that this research contributes to broadening the understanding of the relationship between parental neglect, parenting styles, and social skills, articulating these constructs from an ecological perspective, being sensitive to the various variables that permeate this phenomenon, both relational and psychometric, presenting itself as a measure culturally adapted to the Brazilian context, especially in the North region. This also highlights the need to give greater visibility to the ambivalent issues present in the bioecological contexts of development, often understood and named as parental education practices, transmitted across generations.