Parent-adolescent Communication: Validation of a German Language Scale and Its Longitudinal Association With Adolescent Mental Health

Validierung Eines Psychometrischen Fragebogens Zur Eltern-Kind-Kommunikation im Selbstbericht

A German version of the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS, Barnes & Olson, 1982) will be validated in a large sample of children (10-18 years) and their parents. As a secondary objective, the association of communication quality, children's somatic symptoms and mental health will be explored. After two years, participants from the community sample will be contacted again to see whether baseline communication quality predicts adolescent mental health two years later.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Parent-Child Relations
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (questionnaire)

Detailed Description

The quality of parent-child communication (pcc) is likely to be of importance for child mental health, especially during adolescence. Therefore, pcc is relevant in etiologic research, diagnostics, and as a possible target for intervention in at-risk and clinical populations.

Up to now, there is no validated questionnaire in German language to assess pcc as parent and child self-report. A German translation of the widely used Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS, Barnes & Olson, 1982) will be validated in this study. This questionnaire comprises 20 items that are identical in parent and child versions apart from the referent (my mother/my father/my daughter/my son). In the original scale, two subscales were found via factor analysis: Open communication and problems in communication (ten items each). Internal consistency was adequate in most studies. Several studies have shown associations between pcc and child mental health.

In the current study, the primary aim is to validate the questionnaire in a community, an at-risk, and a clinical sample, with the at-risk sample comprising parent-child dyads with parents seeking parenting advice. The clinical sample will be recruited among in- and outpatients at the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Discriminative validity will be assessed in terms of group differences, construct validity in terms of correlations with different subscales on the parent-child relationship. With regard to the factorial structure, an exploratory factor analysis will be performed. As a secondary aim, the association between somatic symptoms, mental health, and pcc will be studied.

In the longitudinal part of the study, parent-child communication quality will be analysed as a predictor of mental health, especially depressive symptoms and somatic symptoms.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 2338

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Germany
  • Hamburg, Germany, 20246
    • University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 10 years to 99 years (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Children and their parents from the general population, parents seeking advice in parenting support centres and their children, parents and children recruited among in- and outpatients at the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Consent to participate
• Child age: 10-18 years.

Exclusion Criteria:

- None.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Family-Based
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

Number of groups / cohorts

3

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
At-risk sample; Parents seeking parenting advice in information centres/helplines.	Diagnostic test: Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (questionnaire); Observational psychometric validation study
Clinical sample; Children and parents are recruited among in- and outpatients at the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf	Diagnostic test: Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (questionnaire); Observational psychometric validation study
Community sample; Adolescents (10-18 years) and their parents, recruited via online sampling, from the general population	Diagnostic test: Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (questionnaire); Observational psychometric validation study

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parent-adolescent communication scale	20 item measure consisting of two subscales (open and problem communication), 5-point Likert scale; child and parent report	Baseline
Change in general adolescent mental health	Changes in general adolescent mental health will be measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), total scale. The total scale consists of 20 items rated on a 3-step scale. Higher values indicate higher symptom burden.	From baseline to 2 years after recruitment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depressive symptoms two years after recruitment	The Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (DES-DC) measures depressive symptoms in adolescents using 20 items on a four-step Likert scale. Higher values indicate higher symptom burden. Instead of general cut-offs, standardized T-values accoring to gender groups above 60 can be considered as conspicuous (Barkmann et al. 2011).	Two years after initial recruitment.
Change in somatic complaints	The somatic complaints subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist/Youth Self Report questionnaire will be used to measure somatic complaints in adolescents. It consists of 7 items and is measured on a three-step Likert scale. Higher values indicate more and more frequent somatic complaints.	From baseline to two years after recruitment.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Holger Zapf, PhD, Universitatsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Zapf H, Boettcher J. Psychometric evaluation of the german version of the parent-adolescent communication scale. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2025 Mar;34(3):1097-1109. doi: 10.1007/s00787-024-02541-4. Epub 2024 Aug 7.
• Zapf H. Parent-adolescent communication quality does not moderate the association of emotional burden and somatic complaints in adolescents: a cross-sectional structural equation model. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2025 Mar 22;19(1):28. doi: 10.1186/s13034-025-00882-9.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 20, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): May 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 11, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 11, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): April 18, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): October 2, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 28, 2025
• Last Verified: September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: parent-child communication, parent-adolescent communication
• Other Study ID Numbers: E-K-Kom-Val

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No