The Parent Attitude toward Children's Expressiveness Scale (PACES) provides a measure of the degree of acceptance-control the respondent allows toward a child's hypothetical emotional and expressive behavior. PACES is a 20-item scale with a multiple choice format for each item. Emotional and expressive behaviors represented in PACES include anger, distress or sadness, fear, anxiety or nervousness, interest or curiosity, happiness or pleasure, and disgust. Some accepting responses are of a sympathetic or empathic sort, while others are more suggestive of permissiveness. Some of the most controlling reactions border on humiliating or ridiculing the child, while others are more indicative of a scolding response. The instrument appears to be a reliable instrument for assessing the degree of control in a parent's attitude toward children's emotional and expressive behavior. The scale appears to have good construct validity as an attitude measure that evaluates the degree to which parents believe children ought to control their displays of emotional and expressive behavior. Past and ongoing research with the scale is reviewed. It is concluded that PACES provides numerous possibilities for investigating a variety of questions in the area of emotional development, family systems, and socialization. (RH)