Parental Affection/Warmth Scale (PAWS) – Self-Report Version

The Parental Affection/Warmth Scale – Self-Report version (PAWS) is a Parent-Report tool for measuring parental warmth towards young children between the ages of 2 and 8 years.

Researchers can download the PAWS here. The instructions, item wording, and item response format of the PAWS should not be changed.

The PAWS was developed by adapting examples of warm parenting from the multidimensional observational Warmth and Affection Coding System Version II (Prasad et al., 2023) into first person statements. This initial item list was then refined using exploratory factor analysis to produce the final version of the PAWS.

References

Koh, L., Neo, B., Fleming, G.E., Kaouar, S., Henery, J., Briggs, N., & Kimonis, E.R. (2024). Development and validation of the Parental Affection Warmth Scale (PAWS) in a sample of parents of 2- to- 8-year-olds. Psychological Assessment. 

Prasad, A. H., Keevers, Y., Kaouar, S., & Kimonis, E. R. (2023). Conception and Development of the Warmth/Affection Coding System (WACS): A Novel Hybrid Behavioral Observational Tool for Assessing Parent-to-Child Warmth. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 51(9), 1357-1369.