Individuation and parents as people: Measurement concerns regarding two aspects of autonomy

The focus of this study was on examining two assumed components of adolescent autonomy—individuation and perceiving parents as people and the validity of their measurement. Participating in the study were 67 students in grades 9 and 11 (ages 14–17 years) and 118 college students (ages 18–27 years). Each student completed two measures of individuation and two measures of parents as people. The sample was divided into four data sets for analyses based on gender and age grouping. Neither the two measures of individuation nor the two measures of parents as people correlated with each other indicating a problem with concurrent validity. The problems with adequate grounding in theory and validity for the measures are discussed.