Psychometric Properties of the Parent and Youth Versions of the Inadequate Boundaries Questionnaire in Community and Clinical Samples of Adolescents

The Inadequate Boundaries Questionnaire (IBQ) was created as a multi-dimensional measure of boundary violations in parent-child relationships. Use of the IBQ has been increasing; however, its psychometric properties, including its proposed five-factor structure, have yet to be comprehensively evaluated. The current study examined the factor structure, reliability, mother-adolescent agreement, and convergent and discriminant validity of the IBQ-Parent and -Youth English versions among community and clinical adolescents and their mothers. Confirmatory factor analysis most strongly supported four factors: Guilt Induction-Psychological Control, Parentification, No Boundaries (Enmeshment), and Triangulation. The scales showed acceptable to excellent reliability. Mother-adolescent agreement was moderate in the healthy community sample and weaker in the clinical sample. Convergent and discriminant associations supported the validity of the Guilt Induction-Psychological Control scale, with a more complex picture emerging for other scales. Implications of these findings and directions for future research with the IBQ are discussed.