Family or Collective Grief. Design of a Scale of Attitudes toward Children in Mourning Process

Abstract

Aim: design and validation of a brief scale of adults attitudes towards children in family or collective grief processes. Method: 227 valid questionnaires were obtained; 86% (191) women and 14% (31) men, with average age 41 years. From 50 items containing attitudes of adults in situation of grief towards children, an analysis of normality of variables, reliability (alpha of Cronbach) and factor analysis exploratory (generalized least-squares and orthogonal rotation) was performed. To evaluate the goodness of fit, indices Chi-square, RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) and residue analysis. Results: Items deleted those which did not meet: lax criteria of normality (skewness < 2 and kurtosis < 7), corrected homogeneity index > .5 and communality > .5. The resulting scale (14 items) explains 47% of the variability, including 2 factors (Hide my pain and Prevent your pain) with Chi-square/degrees of freedom = 1.7, RMSEA = 0.059 and 18% of residuals). Significant differences were found (p < .05) between training levels (Average high school = 35.38, Vocational training = 30.88, and University = 27.38).  Conclusion; A short scale that measures the attitudes of the goal has been obtained and demonstrating the tendency of adults to avoid that children participate in the family duel.