Parental Care and Tenderness Questionnaire: a first validation in Italian
Tania Garau (University of Padova)
The Parental Care and Tenderness Questionnaire (PCAT) is designed to assess participants’ motivation for parenting through 25 items that tap 5 different factors: liking, protection, caring, tenderness-positive and tenderness-negative. In this regard, two studies have been conducted with the aim of validating the Italian version of the scale and analysing its relationship with two implicit instruments: the VAAST and IAT. In Study 1 (N=152) we employed the VAAST, an implicit measure of approach and avoidance, using photos of white children and adults. Findings indicate that responses on the PCAT are related to stronger spontaneous tendencies to approach children providing evidence about the validity of the measure. In Study 2 (N=145) we explored the link between parental motivations and intergroup attitudes. Adults performed two race-IATs – presenting either children or adults – and reported their predictions about the most likely attitudes of white children in intergroup contexts. Findings suggest that parental motivations are linked to expectations of more positive attitudes towards white peers but not towards Black peers. Results and implications will be discussed.
Italiano 
English