A Parent-Child Relations Questionnaire1

The Parent-Child Relations Questionnaire (PCR) was devised to obtain a measure of the characteristic behavior of parents towards their young children, as experienced by the child. It has been used in studies of late adolescents and of adults who have filled it out with reference to their own childhood. A form with slightly modified wording is now in use with children. There are separate questionnaires for Father and Mother. There are Io subtests, six of 15 items each, for behavior characterized as Loving, Protecting, Demanding, Rejecting, Neglecting, and Casual, and four of Io items each for Symbolic-Love Reward, Direct-Object Reward, Symbolic-Love Punishment, and Direct-Object Punishment. The first six of these categories fit a theoretical model suggested by Roe (4) and were conceived as being related in a circular continuum as shown in Figure I.