Peer-reviewed article
Measuring Child Participation: The Psychometric Properties of the Hungarian Child and Adolescent Participation in Decision Making Questionnaire
Barbara Németh, Brigitta Szabó, Mónika Miklósi ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5The study tested the Hungarian version of the Child and Adolescent Participation in Decision Making Questionnaire (CAP-DMQ), a tool in which children report on their own participation. A total of 373 adolescents aged 14 to 17 completed the survey, and about three quarters were girls. The analysis supported a single-dimension structure for the scale. Higher participation scores were linked to better well-being, quality of life and positive parenting, and to less negative parenting. The authors say the tool can support further research but needs more validation.
Key points
- 373 adolescents aged 14 to 17 took part, 74.8% of them girls.
- Confirmatory factor analysis supported a unidimensional structure of the scale.
- The network model showed that the sense of involvement and opportunities to weigh alternatives were central to participation.
- CAP-DMQ scores were positively associated with well-being, quality of life and positive parenting.
- CAP-DMQ scores were negatively correlated with negative parenting.
Limitations
The abstract describes a single sample of adolescents aged 14 to 17 that was mostly girls, so the findings may not apply to younger children or to boys. The authors state that further validation is needed, and the associations shown cannot establish cause and effect.
Abstract
Abstract There is a growing interest in standardised, child-reported tools to foster more research on children’s right to participation. To support this goal, our study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Hungarian version of the Child and Adolescent Participation in Decision Making Questionnaire (CAP-DMQ). A total of 373 adolescents aged 14 to 17 (74.8% girls) completed the survey package. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the scale’s unidimensional structure. The network model revealed the central role of the sense of involvement and opportunities to weigh alternatives, suggesting that providing children with space to express themselves is crucial for their participation. Positive associations between CAP-DMQ and well-being, quality of life and positive parenting perceived by adolescents, along with a negative correlation with negative parenting, underscore the scale’s potential to explore factors affecting children’s participation and its relationship with developmental outcomes. While the CAP-DMQ can facilitate interdisciplinary, basic and applied research, further validation is needed.