‘Unlocking child participation’: Development and validation of the Child Participation Post-Separation Scale (ChiPPS)

Children have a right to participate in all decisions affecting them according to international human rights law. In the context of parental separation, many decisions need to be made regarding children’s lives in which their right to be heard should be safeguarded. From a theoretical perspective, meaningful child participation is considered beneficial to them, but when parents have separated it can also be dysfunctional, bringing risks to the children involved. To better grasp child participation and its anticipated benefits and risks, we developed and validated the Child Participation Post-separation Scale (ChiPPS). Throughout the developmental phase, a panel of youth experts by experience (n = 15) was consulted to ensure its content and face validity. Based on a sample of N = 218 adolescents (M = 15.9; SD = 2.25), five lower-order subscales (expressing views, feeling heard, dysfunctional, influence, feedback) and 2 higher-order subscales (decision process, due weight) were identified in the factor analyses. All subscales showed good internal consistency and were meaningfully associated with single-item measures of children’s involvement and satisfaction with the decisions made, and adolescent reports of parenting, psychological need satisfaction, and adjustment (convergence validity). Overall, the ChiPPS captured multiple distinct, yet intertwined dimensions of children’s experiences, feelings and understanding in the decision-making process regarding their living arrangements following parental separation. This provides researchers with a reliable instrument to measure child participation post-separation that is meaningful both in terms of children’s rights and in relation to their adjustment.