Internal consistency and confirmatory validity of the parenting practices inventory in a Mexican population sample

Abstract

Introduction. Parenting practices refer to specific behaviours used by parents and caretakers of children to guide childhood development and socialization goals. These practices are associated with children’s health, psychological, and physical development. Objective. To determine the psychometric properties of the Parenting Practices Inventory (PPI) among a group of child caregivers in Mexico City. Method. The PPI was applied to 443 caregivers of children and adolescents, who attended a general health care centre in Mexico City. For the psychometric evaluation of the instrument, the full distribution and discrimination of the items was analysed first. Then, the validity of the construct was tested through an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory analysis with structural equation modelling. Results. The internal consistency of the PPI showed α = .867 and 41.25% of variance explained for all four dimensions of interest. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model had goodness of fit. It included twenty-four items with adequate consistency and validity indices. Discussion and conclusion. The PPI is therefore a potentially useful psychometric measure for evaluating parenting practices among this type of population and could have major implications for the development of interventions and preventive programmes. It provides scientific bases for diagnostic decision-making and primary health care from the moment of initial contact to specialized medical care.