Psychometric Characteristics of the Parenting Scale in a Head Start Population

Abstract

Examined the reliability, construct, and concurrent validity of the Parenting Scale (PS), a brief instrument designed to measure dysfunctional parenting practices for parents of young children. In Study 1, 183 primarily African American mothers and their Head Start children completed the PS. The PS, which consists of 3 subscales--Laxness, Overreactivity, and Verbosity--was subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Neither the original 3-factor structure, nor a 2-factor structure consisting of the original Laxness and Overreactivity factors, fit the data. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis yielded a 2-factor solution that was generally consistent with the Overreactivity and Laxness subscales identified by Arnold, O'Leary, Wolff, and Acker (1993). The 2-factor CFA solution was replicated with a sample of 216 similar mothers, and the 5-item Overreactivity and Laxness subscales retained internal consistencies above .70. Analysis of the convergent validity of the modified PS and its 2 subscales revealed moderate associations with measures of permissiveness, authoritarianism, involvement, and limit setting. Scores on the PS were not correlated significantly with measures of social desirability, maternal education level, or parent report of internalizing behavior problems. Concurrent validity evidence was obtained by correlating the PS with measures of parenting satisfaction and support, parenting stress, maternal depression, and measures of externalizing child behavior problems.

Improving Maternal Mental Health After a Child’s Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…25 It has excellent psychometric properties and has been used with racially and ethnically diverse populations, including Spanish-speaking families, and families of children with ASD. [26][27][28][29][30] We analyzed parental stress as both a mean symptom score and relative to a prespecified clinical threshold, defined as a percentile score above the 90th percentile. A percentile score in this range represents clinically significant parenting stress.…”

Parenting Scale: Which Version Should We Use?

“…The first set of studies (Irvine, et al 1999;Prinzie, et al 2007;Reitman, et al 2001) started their analyses with a confirmatory factor analysis, testing the replicability of the original three-factor structure. The model did not provide a good fit.…”

“…Several studies have examined the factor structure of the PS (Arney et al 2008;Collett et al 2001;Harvey et al 2001;Irvine et al 1999;Karazsia et al 2008;Prinzie et al 2007;Reitman, et al 2001;Rhoades and O'Leary 2007;Steele et al 2005); however, as discussed below, the results of these studies have been ambiguous. In this paper, we first review the scale and the various structural models proposed by different groups of researchers.…”

Relationships among parenting practices, parental stress, child behaviour, and children's social‐cognitive development

“…When I am upset or under stress I am picky on my child's back) and laxness (e.g. I threaten to do things that I know I won't actually do) have demonstrated adequate reliability and concurrent validity with observed measures of parenting behaviour (Reitman, Currier, & Hupp, 2001). Both factors have acceptable internal consistency (alphas 5 0.71 and 0.77, respectively) and distinguish clinic from non-clinic samples.…”