An evaluation of the shortened embu scale in youngoffenders and non-offenders in England

The EMBU has been used in a number of countries as a measure of perceived parentalchild rearing behaviour. In this study a shortened version of the EMBU was used with an Englishpopulation consisting of male offenders and male and female non-offenders. The analysisshowed that maternal scores on perceived emotional warmth were higher than paternal scores inall three samples. Perceptions of maternal rejection and over-protection were also higher thanpaternal scores among non-offenders. Male offenders and male non-offenders, and male andfemale non-offenders were compared on perceived parental rejection, emotional warmth andover-protection. The results showed that the male offenders perceived their fathers as being morerejecting than the male non-offenders. There were no significant differences between the maleand female non-offenders. Broad comparisons were made with findings from other countrieswhich suggested that the non-offenders perceived their parental behaviour similarly to otherWestern countries, whereas offenders perceived higher levels of parental rejection than thecomparison nations.