Parenting styles: psychometric properties of the norms and demands scale (children’s version) in elementary school children and its relationship with physical fitness

Authors

  • Pilar Vílchez Conesa Universidad Católica de Murcia
  • Elisa Isabel Sánchez Romero
  • Francisco José Arévalo Martínez

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v79.117714

Keywords:

Child development, parenting styles, physical fitness, primary education, psychometric validation

Abstract

Introduction: Parental educational styles influence children's development, yet validated instruments for assessing them from a child's perspective in primary education remain scarce. The Scale of Norms and Requirements (ENE-H) evaluates three parental style dimensions: inductive, rigid, and indulgent.

Objective: To provide validity and reliability evidence for the ENE-H in 562 primary school students aged 7–12 years.

Methodology: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Items with low communalities and weak factor loadings were systematically removed. Internal consistency, sex differences, and correlations with physical fitness indicators (strength, endurance, flexibility) were also examined.

Results: A refined 12-item version improved explained variance from 36% to 53%, with satisfactory internal consistency (α = 0.62–0.74). Boys perceived their fathers as more inductive and their mothers as more rigid than girls did. Correlations with physical fitness were modest but significant, particularly between maternal inductive style and right-hand grip strength (r = 0.392).

Conclusions: Findings confirm the three-dimensional structure of the original scale, though specific adaptations are required for this age group. The refined ENE-H is a valid tool for assessing parental educational styles from a child's perspective, with potential use in preventive family interventions.

Author Biography

  • Pilar Vílchez Conesa, Universidad Católica de Murcia

    Profesora en el departamento de educación de la UCAM e investigadora en el grupo de psicología de la educación física y del deporte

References

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of con-duct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017). https://www.apa.org/ethics/code

Arredondo, E., Elder, J. P., Ayala, G. X., Campbell, N., Baquero, B., & Duerksen, S. (2006). Is parenting style related to children's healthy eating and physical activity in Latino families? Health Educa-tion Research, 21(6), 862-871. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyl110

Ayala, F., Sainz de Baranda, P., de Ste Croix, M., & Santonja, F. (2012). Fiabilidad y validez de las pruebas sit-and-reach: Revisión sistemática. Revista Andaluza de Medicina del Deporte, 5(2), 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1888-7546(12)70010-2

Balantekin, K. N., Anzman-Frasca, S., Francis, L. A., Ventura, A. K., Fisher, J. O., y Johnson, S. L. (2020). Positive parenting approaches and their association with child eating and weight: A narrative review from infancy to adolescence. Pediatric Obesity, 15(4), e12722. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12722

Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1), 56-95. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431691111004

Bohannon, R. W., Peolsson, A., Massy-Westropp, N., Desrosiers, J., y Bear-Lehman, J. (2006). Reference values for adult grip strength measured with a Jamar dynamometer: A descriptive meta-analysis. Physiotherapy, 92(1), 11-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2005.05.003

Buri, J. R. (1991). Parental Authority Questionnaire. Journal of Personality Assessment, 57(1), 110-119. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5701_13

Ceballos, E., y Rodrigo, M. J. (1998). Las metas y estrategias de socialización entre padres e hijos. En M. J. Rodrigo y J. Palacios (Coords.), Familia y desarrollo humano (pp. 225-260). Alianza Editorial.

Chen, Y., Haines, J., Charlton, B., y VanderWeele, T. (2019). Positive Parenting Improves Multiple As-pects of Health and Well-Being in Young Adulthood. Nature Human Behaviour, 3, 684-691. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0602-x

Costello, A. B., & Osborne, J. W. (2005). Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: Four recommen-dations for getting the most from your analysis. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evalua-tion, 10(1), Article 7. https://doi.org/10.7275/jyj1-4868

Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5ª ed.). Sage Publications.

Frick, P. J. (1991). The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. University of Alabama.

Fuentes, M. J., Motrico, E., y Bersabé, R. M. (1999). Escala de Afecto (EA) y Escala de Normas y Exigen-cias (ENE): Versión hijos y versión padres. Universidad de Málaga.

Furlong, M., y McGilloway, S. (2013). Challenges and future directions in the evaluation of parenting programmes. In P. Barbaris & S. Petrakis (Eds.), Parenting: Challenges, practices and cultural in-fluences. Nova Science Publishers.

García, G. C., y Secchi, J. D. (2014). Test course navette de 20 metros con 1 minuto de pausa. Una idea original que perdura hace 30 años. Apunts, 49(183), 93-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apunts.2014.06.001

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., y Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8ª ed.). Cengage Learning.

Hu, L.-T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conven-tional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118

Huang, L., Wu, W., y Yang, F. (2024). Parenting Style and Subjective Well-Being in Children and Youth: A Meta-Analysis. Psychological Reports, 332941241256883. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941241256883

Kaiser, H. F. (1960). The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educational and Psy-chological Measurement, 20(1), 141-151.

Kiefner-Burmeister, A., Hoffmann, D., Zbur, S., y Musher-Eizenman, D. (2020). The role of general par-enting style in child diet and obesity risk. Current Nutrition Reports, 9(1), 14-25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-020-00301-9

Léger, L. A., y Lambert, J. (1982). A maximal multistage 20-m shuttle run test to predict VO2 max. Eu-ropean Journal of Applied Physiology, 49(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428958

López, N., Schembre, S., Belcher, B., O'Connor, S., Maher, J., Arbel, R., Margolin, G., y Dunton, G. (2018). Parenting styles, food-related parenting practices, and children's healthy eating: A mediation analysis to examine relationships between parenting and child diet. Appetite, 128, 205-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.06.021

Maccoby, E. E., y Martin, J. A. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. En P. H. Mussen (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and so-cial development (4.ª ed., pp. 1-101). Wiley.

MacCormack, J., Castro, V., Halberstadt, A., y Rogers, M. (2019). Mothers' interoceptive knowledge pre-dicts children's emotion regulation and social skills in middle childhood. Social Development, 29, 578-599. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12418

Maia, C., Braz, D., Fernandes, H. M., Sarmento, H., & Machado-Rodrigues, A. M. (2025). The impact of parental behaviors on children’s lifestyle, dietary habits, screen time, sleep patterns, mental health, and BMI: A scoping review. Children, 12(2), 203. https://doi.org/10.3390/children12020203

McDowell, D. J., Kim, M., O’Neil, R., & Parke, R. D. (2002). Children’s emotional regulation and social competence in middle childhood. Marriage & Family Review, 34 (3–4), 345–364. https://doi.org/10.1300/J002v34n03_07

Palacios, J. (1999). La familia y su papel en el desarrollo afectivo y social. En F. López, I. Etxebarría, M. J. Fuentes y M. J. Ortiz (Coords.), Desarrollo afectivo y social (pp. 267-284). Pirámide.

Robinson, C. C., Mandleco, B., Olsen, S. F., y Hart, C. H. (1995). Authoritative, authoritarian, and permis-sive parenting practices: Development of a new measure. Psychological Reports, 77(3), 819-830. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1995.77.3.819

Rodrigo, M. J., Máiquez, M. L., y Martín, J. C. (2015). Parentalidad positiva y políticas locales de apoyo a las familias. Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias (FEMP).

Ruiz-Hernández, J. A., Moral-Zafra, E., Llor-Esteban, B., y Jiménez-Barbero, J. A. (2019). Influence of parental styles and other psychosocial variables on the development of externalizing behaviors in adolescents: A systematic review. The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Con-text, 11, 9-21. https://doi.org/10.5093/ejpalc2018a11

Shloim, N., Edelson, L., Martin, N., y Hetherington, M. (2015). Parenting styles, feeding styles, feeding practices and weight status in 4-12 year-old children: A systematic review of the literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1849. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01849

Uji, M., Sakamoto, A., Adachi, K., y Kitamura, T. (2014). The impact of authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles on children's later mental health in Japan: Focusing on parent and child gender. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(2), 293-302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9740-3

Vega-Díaz, M., González-García, H., y de Labra, C. (2023). Influence of parental involvement and parent-ing styles in children's active lifestyle: a systematic review. PeerJ, 11, e16668. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.16668

Wang, N., & Cheng, W. (2023). Influence of family parenting style on the formation of eating behaviors and habits in preschool children: The mediating role of quality of life and nutritional knowledge. PLOS ONE, 18(7), e0288878. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288878

Watson, A., Dumuid, D., Maher, C., Fraysse, F., Mauch, C., Tomkinson, G. R., Ferguson, T., & Olds, T. (2023). Parenting styles and their associations with children’s body composition, activity pat-terns, fitness, diet, health, and academic achievement. Childhood Obesity, 19(5), 316–331. https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2022.0054

Wu, Q., Han, S., Tawfiq, D., Jalapa, K., Lee, C., y Pocchio, K. (2024). A family systems investigation on couple emotional intimacy, parent-child relationships, and child social skills in middle child-hood. Child Development, 95(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14155.

Wu, Q., Han, S., Tawfiq, D., Jalapa, K., Lee, C., & Pocchio, K. (2024). A family systems investigation on couple emotional intimacy, parent-child relationships, and child social skills in middle child-hood. Child Development, 95(6), 2195–2214. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14155

Downloads

Published

02-06-2026

Issue

Section

Original Research Article

How to Cite

Vílchez Conesa, P., Sánchez Romero, E. I., & Arévalo Martínez, F. J. (2026). Parenting styles: psychometric properties of the norms and demands scale (children’s version) in elementary school children and its relationship with physical fitness. Retos, 79, 546-561. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v79.117714