Confirmatory factor analysis of the Parental Bonding Instrument in a Brazilian female population.
OBJECTIVE
The Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) is a widely used measure of parenting. Recent studies have proposed different factor structures. There is a disagreement in the literature about whether the PBI is best used as a two-factor or a three-factor measure.


METHODS
Two hundred and fifty-seven female adults were recruited from a clinical population (139 psychiatric patients and 118 controls) and were requested to complete the PBI. Maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analyses were performed to compare the five different factor structures in terms of model fit.


RESULTS
The poorest fit to the data was obtained by the Parker et al. model. The Kendler model was the only model that had an adjusted goodness-of-fit index >0.8 regarding both paternal and maternal PBI. When considering invariance of factor structure across age subgroups, the Kendler model was also the only acceptable model.


CONCLUSIONS
Three-factor structures are preferable to two-factor structures. The Kendler model was the only one to provide an acceptable fit, but it must be considered that it was a female sample, and when considering gender subgroups other studies have found the same results. Despite the gender limitation, the present study contributes to a better understanding and use of the PBI in Brazilian samples.
Terra
Luciana
L
Clinical Hospital of Porto Alegre, Brazil. lu.terra@terra.com.br
Hauck
Simone
S
Schestatsky
Sidnei
S
Fillipon
Ana Paula
AP
Sanchez
Patricia
P
Hirakata
Vania
V
Ceitlin
Lucia H
LH
D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires