Measuring Patriarchal Family Culture: Questionnaire Development and Its Psychosocial Correlates

Patriarchal family environments have been identified as a significant psychosocial risk factor for adult mental health and relational functioning. Yet existing research and measurement tools often fail to capture the multidimensional complexity of patriarchal culture as experienced during childhood and adolescence, and few studies have examined how patriarchal family dynamics are linked to psychosocial functioning in adulthood. To address this gap, we developed and validated the Family Patriarchy Questionnaire (FPQ), a retrospective self-report instrument assessing perceived family support for patriarchal culture. Across three online studies with Polish adults (N = 496, 180, and 1,156), we examined the FPQ’s factor structure, reliability, and construct validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported an eight-factor bifactor model—Women’s Emotionality, Authority and Dominance of Men, Hostility toward Women, Justification of Violence, Inferior Child Roles, Subordination of Girls, Rape Myths, Family Secrets—with evidence of gender invariance and high internal consistency. Higher FPQ scores were linked to greater attachment anxiety and avoidance, lower self-esteem, more severe emotion regulation difficulties, stronger endorsement of modern sexist beliefs, and elevated symptoms of anxiety and depression. The FPQ offers a theoretically grounded and psychometrically robust tool for identifying patriarchal patterns in family socialization and examining their long-term psychological correlates.