Development and validation of the parental self-efficacy to manage child's online risk behaviors scale for parents of adolescents with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Parental Self-Efficacy to Manage Child's Online Risk Behaviors Scale (PSEMCORBS). The study included 249 adolescents (122 adolescents with ADHD recruited from child psychiatry outpatient clinics in Taiwan and 127 adolescents without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] recruited through online advertising; mean age [SD] = 13.77 [2.10] years) and their parents (N = 249, mean age [SD] = 47.14 [4.89] years). This study examined the PSEMCORBS's factor structure by using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), internal consistency by using McDonald's ω, concurrent validity by evaluating its correlations with adolescents' internet addiction severity, time spent on internet, and internalizing and externalizing problems, and known-group validity by comparing parental self-efficacy between parents of adolescents with and without online risk behaviors as well as between parents of adolescents with and without ADHD. The EFA results indicate that the 23-item PSEMCORBS has three factors, including monitoring, intervention, and parental reasoning. The overall PSEMCORBS and its three factors had excellent internal consistency (McDonald's ω: ranging from 0.922 to 0.958). The overall PSEMCORBS was significantly associated with children internet addiction severity, time spent on internet, child internalizing problem, and child externalizing problem (all p < 0.02). Parents of the children without online risk behaviors reported significantly higher scores on the entire PSEMCORBS and three factors than did those of the children with online risk behaviors (all p < 0.05). Parents of the children without ADHD reported significantly higher score than did those of the children with ADHD in the factor of parental reasoning (p < 0.05). The PSEMCORBS is considered a valuable and reliable tool in the study of parental self-efficacy to manage adolescents' online risk behaviors.