Abstract The Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) is a widely used self-report measure for assessing the quality of parent-child relationships and has been validated across multiple cultures. However, the only Spanish validation was conducted over three decades ago and focused exclusively on postpartum women, highlighting the need for an updated evaluation. Given that the parent-child bond significantly influences young adults’ psychological well-being with implications for academic motivation, engagement, and the overall university experience, this study aimed to examine the factorial structure and psychometric properties of the Spanish PBI in a university student sample. A total of 300 university students (85.7% women, mean age: 21.59 ± 3.53) completed maternal and paternal PBI forms and the short Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran (EMBU) scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on fourteen previously proposed PBI models to evaluate and compare model fit. The four-factor model of care, overprotection, autonomy, and indifference demonstrated the best fit. Internal consistency was good, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from 0.81 to 0.88, and test–retest reliability was satisfactory, with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.841 to 0.945. Convergent and divergent validity were supported by correlation coefficients between the PBI and S-EMBU subscales, ranging from 0.546 to 0.820 and from − 0.501 to − 0.784, respectively. These findings support the updated Spanish PBI as a reliable and valid instrument for assessing perceived parental bonding in young adults and suggest its utility for both research and applied settings concerned with family dynamics and developmental outcomes in early adulthood, including in educational contexts.
Zabolipour et al. (Fri,) studied this question.