The Development and Validation of the Overparenting Scale – Short Form

Rapidly growing evidence has shown the negative consequences of overparenting among offspring during emerging adulthood. Notwithstanding the proliferation of self-report measures that assess overparenting from the offspring’s perspective, much less frequently overparenting is assessed from the parents’ vantage point that might provide a more holistic and unfiltered depiction of their overparenting practices. To provide a brief and valid measure of overparenting from the parents’ perspective, the present study relied on four samples (n = 1722) to develop and two additional samples (n = 658) to cross-validate the 12-item Overparenting Scale – Short Form (OP-SF). The results showed that the OP-SF maintained the four dimensions of overparenting that are captured by the long form and had good internal consistency and convergent validity that are comparable to the long form. Overall, the OP-SF is a promising tool for assessing overparenting as an overall construct from a parent’s perspective.