Psychometric Properties of a Self-Report Measure of Overprotective Parenting: The Parental Overprotection Measure (POM)

There are few psychometrically sound measures of overprotection designed for the caregiver and focusing largely on overt behaviours and actions. The Parental Overprotection Measure (POM) was developed for research with preschool aged children and has been used in a range of research projects and translated into several languages. However, its full psychometric properties have not previously been reported. The aim of the current paper was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the original, English-language version of the POM. Mothers (N = 288) of children aged between 36 and 71 months completed the POM along with measures assessing validity. A subsample (n = 86) also repeated the POM after approximately 5 weeks. Exploratory factor analysis of the present sample, did not show very clear factor structure and we therefore recommend use of the full scale at this stage. However, two, potentially interpretable factors related to restriction and comfort. Reliability for both factors and the total was strong (alphas and omegas .74 to .90) and the (sub)scales all showed good retest reliability (.72 to .75). Correlations with other measures of overprotection were moderate for the total and restriction scales but smaller for comfort and the two subscales correlated differently from each other with other aspects of parenting. The total and restriction subscale correlated moderately with child anxiety but the comfort subscale failed to relate significantly. Overall, the POM shows solid psychometric properties and could be used as a self-report measure of caregiver overprotection.