Validation study of the Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC) in an adolescents' forensic sample.

The Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC) is a projective method developed by McArthur and Roberts (1982) to assess children and adolescents' behavioural, social and emotional functioning, concerns, conflicts and emotional management strategies through their perceptions of common interpersonal situations of everyday life. The aim of the present study is to contribute to the validation of the RATC in a forensic sample (N = 75) [constituted by a group of juvenile delinquents detained in educational centres (n = 40, 12-17 years old, 1-10 years of schooling) and a group of maltreated adolescents integrated in residential care (n = 35, 11-16 years old, 5-10 years of schooling)], studying its psychometric properties, such as reliability and criterion validity (convergent and discriminant validity), considering the results obtained in other instruments as external validation criteria: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition (WISC-III) and Youth Self-Report (YSR). It also aims to search for some indicators based on means and standard deviations to interpret the scores obtained in RATC for these forensic contexts, through the comparisons within forensic groups and the comparisons of the forensic groups with a community sample. The RATC showed minimally acceptable reliability and adequate validity indices, considering that this instrument is a projective method. This limitation is compensated by the clinical value of the data obtained from the projection of individuals' thoughts, concerns, conflicts and problem-solving styles, which are useful to assess their emotional and behavioural characteristics and psychological functioning. The results also show statistically significant differences between the two forensic groups on RATC scales, as well as between them and the community sample, as expected, underlining their different characteristics.

Caracterização da comunicação entre progenitores e filhos em idade escolar: estudo com uma amostra portuguesa / Characterization of parent-child communication in school-age children: study with a portuguese sample

A comunicação parento-filial é uma dimensão central do exercício da parentalidade. O objetivo do presente estudo foi identificar e comparar as percepções de 467 progenitores e 329 crianças (entre 7 e 11 anos) sobre a comunicação parento-filial, através da Escala de Avaliação da Comunicação na Parentalidade (COMPA). Os testes t de Student, ANOVA e correlação de Pearson revelaram alguns resultados estatisticamente significativos: destaque positivo de mães/filhas na comunicação, relação positiva entre dimensões metacomunicação e partilha/confiança da intimidade por parte das crianças, e influência das variáveis sociodemográficas (níveis socioeconómico e de escolaridade baixos, contexto rural) sobre a comunicação. De uma forma geral, os resultados sugerem a necessidade de dar atenção às relações parento-filiais em contextos escolares e socioeconómicos desfavorecidos.(AU)

Parent-child communication is a central dimension of the parenting task. The main goal of the present study was to identify and compare the perceptions of 467 parents and 329 children (ages between 7-11 years) related to parent-child communication, using the Perception Scale of Parenting Communication. Student's t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlations revealed some statistically significant results: a positive emphasis of mothers/daughters on communication, a positive relationship between meta-communication and sharing/confidence dimensions for children, and the influence of sociodemographic variables (low levels of financial income and education, rural context) on the quality of communication. In general, these results seem to indicate the necessity of paying attention to the parent-child relationship in disadvantaged school and socioeconomic contexts.(AU)

Caracterização da comunicação entre progenitores e filhos em idade escolar: estudo com uma amostra portuguesa / Characterization of parent-child communication in school-age children: study with a portuguese sample

A comunicação parento-filial é uma dimensão central do exercício da parentalidade. O objetivo do presente estudo foi identificar e comparar as percepções de 467 progenitores e 329 crianças (entre 7 e 11 anos) sobre a comunicação parento-filial, através da Escala de Avaliação da Comunicação na Parentalidade (COMPA). Os testes t de Student, ANOVA e correlação de Pearson revelaram alguns resultados estatisticamente significativos: destaque positivo de mães/filhas na comunicação, relação positiva entre dimensões metacomunicação e partilha/confiança da intimidade por parte das crianças, e influência das variáveis sociodemográficas (níveis socioeconómico e de escolaridade baixos, contexto rural) sobre a comunicação. De uma forma geral, os resultados sugerem a necessidade de dar atenção às relações parento-filiais em contextos escolares e socioeconómicos desfavorecidos.

Parent-child communication is a central dimension of the parenting task. The main goal of the present study was to identify and compare the perceptions of 467 parents and 329 children (ages between 7-11 years) related to parent-child communication, using the Perception Scale of Parenting Communication. Student's t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlations revealed some statistically significant results: a positive emphasis of mothers/daughters on communication, a positive relationship between meta-communication and sharing/confidence dimensions for children, and the influence of sociodemographic variables (low levels of financial income and education, rural context) on the quality of communication. In general, these results seem to indicate the necessity of paying attention to the parent-child relationship in disadvantaged school and socioeconomic contexts.