Developing a measure of the dialectics of parenting adult children as sources of intergenerational ambivalence.

This study develops a new measure for capturing dialectics of parenting that serve as sources of intergenerational ambivalence (IGA) in the parents of adult-aged children called the Dialectics of Parenting Adult Children Scale (DPACS). The current approach was informed by previous recommendations based on the strengths and weaknesses of existing methods for capturing IGA. The DPACS asks parents about beliefs and behaviors that are in logical contradiction with each other rather than conflicting emotional experiences. Scale items were inspired by a qualitative study that explored common themes of contradiction, referred to as dialectics, for parents of adult children (Levitzki, 2009). These five dialectics were separation and connection, narcissistic extension and individuation, familial connection and generation gap, parent needs and child needs, and hierarchy and equality. Participants were parents of adult children (<i>N</i> = 358) in the United States recruited using Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Data were collected through online survey using Qualtrics. Confirmatory factor analysis informed item retention and removal and ambivalence scores were calculated using the retained items. The DPACS was validated against an established measure of parent-adult-child relationship quality. Patterns of participant responses were examined and suggestions for interpreting DPACS ambivalence scores are provided. Findings indicate parental experiences of IGA were common for all dialectics. The DPACS could be useful in clinical settings for identifying specific sources of parental IGA. Although this new measure requires further development, the DPACS and the dialectical approach are a valuable addition to the conceptualization and measurement of IGA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).