Construct Validation in Adolescents of the Brief Current Form of the Parental Bonding Instrument S. Klimidis, I.H. Minas, A.W. Ata, and G.W. Stuart We have reported elsewhere the development of a brief version of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PSI), which we have called the Parental Bonding Instrument- Brief Current form (PBI-BC), for use in survey research in adolescent samples. It was shown in that report that PBI-BC retained the factor structure of the original instrument. The structure remained stable in adoles- cents’ ratings of their mothers and their fathers. Given the evidence of a relationship between the dimensions from the original scale and psychopathology, it was expected that the PBI-BC would be similarly related to measures of psychopathology, namely, that there would be a set of positive correlations between the perceived parental bonding styles of high control and low autonomy-giving and measures of pathology, with ECENTLY, we reported’ the development R of a brief version of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI)2 for research with adolescent samples-the Brief Current form of the PBI (PBI-BC). The main advantage of the PBI-BC was thought to be its brevity, which allowed the investigator to include other measures of impor- tance without overburdening subjects. A second consideration was the need to focus on the current or recent relationship between the par- ent and the adolescent in contrast to the PBI’s first 16 years of life format. In relation to this issue, Parker and Lipscombe’d investigation of parental reactions to their asthmatic child sug- gested modifiability of the parental style of control with the presence of illness, and that, “parental overprotection associated with asthma is likely to reflect an adaptational response by parents to a child with a chronic, unpredictable illness” (p. 295). In our own research on adoles- cent perceptions of parental bonding styles, we are interested in the multivariate contribution From the Mctorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia; and the School of Nursing, La Trobe University, Albury- Wodonga Campus, Wodonga, Victoria, Aus- tralia. Supported in part by a grant from La Trobe University, Albury- Wodonga Campus, School of Nursing. Address reprint requests to Iraklis H. Minas, M.B.B.S., B.Med.Sc., D.P.M., F.R.A.N.Z.C.P., Director, Victorian Tran- scultural Psychiatry Unit, 110 Nicholson St, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065, Australia. Copyright 0 1992 by WB. Saunders Company 0010-440X/92/3306-0002$03.00/0 a negative relationship between pathology and per- ceived parental styles of high care and low rejection. In addition, the present study explored the relationships between perceived parental styles and bipolar posi- tive and negative self-concept measures, with the expectations that high control and low autonomy would be associated with more negative self-concept and that high care and low rejection would be associ- ated with more positive self-concept. The results gen- erally confirmed these expectations, suggesting that the brief instrument has adequate construct validity and would be particularly useful as a brief index in studies of adolescents. Copyright 0 1992 by WA Saunders Company of such perceptions in association with other factors such as migration and postmigration resettlement of families, on a range of depen- dent variables (e.g., psychopathology). The em- phasis in this research is therefore on the current or recent perceptions of bonding styles, as they are presumably modified by adaptation to migration and settlement. There have been numerous reports3-l5 sup- porting the link between clinical and subclinical pathology and the dimensions measured by the PBI. In particular, adult patients with anxiety neurosis (exluding phobics and those with situa- tional stress reactions) were found to report lower levels of parental care and greater overpro- tectior? compared with medical treatment con- trols matched on gender, age, and social class. In a study of agoraphobics and social phobics, Parker5 found significant negative correlations between maternal care scores and symptom severity in the former group, while finding significant positive correlations between mater- nal care and maternal overprotection and symp- tom severity in the latter group. Compared with medical treatment attenders matched on gen- der, age, and social class, agoraphobic patients scored significantly lower on perceived mater- nal care. Similar comparisons of social phobics showed that they rated both parents signifi- cantly lower on perceived care, but higher on overprotection, than did medical treatment con- trols. Furthermore, Parker and Lipscombe14 found that medical treatment patients who 378 Comprehensive Psychiatry, Vol. 33, No. 6 (November/December), 1992: pp 378-383