Development and Validation of the Parent-child Metacognitive Interaction Scale

Objectives: This study aimed to develop and validate the parent-child metacognitive interaction scale (PMIS) by conceptualizing parent-child metacognitive interaction and examining its validity and reliability.Methods: The scale development involved multiple stages. First, 4 mothers of 3- to 5-year-old children were first interviewed to generate items regarding supporting children’s self-regulation. Next, a Delphi survey with 10 child development experts assessed content validity using the content validity ratio and content validity index. Three mothers then reviewed the items before the final survey. Finally, 428 mothers of 3- to 6-year-old children completed questionnaires on the PMIS and children’s self-regulation. Their responses were randomly split in half: one sample was used for exploratory factor analysis and the other for confirmatory factor analysis.Results: Parent-child metacognitive interaction consisted of two dimensions: cognitive regulation and affective regulation. Cognitive regulation included cognitive awareness interaction, problem-solving information provision, problem-solving discussion, and problem-solving motivation. Affective regulation included emotional awareness and acceptance, emotion regulation strategy guidance, explanation of emotion regulation reasons, and socio-emotional behavior feedback. The PMIS demonstrated convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity and was positively associated with children’s self-regulation.Conclusion: The findings highlight that parent-child interaction activating metacognition is critical for developing children’s self-regulation abilities. The PMIS has implications for designing educational and intervention programs for parents.