| Measure Description | Source of measure | Abidin, R. R. (2012). Parenting stress index (4th ed.). Lutz, FL: PAR. Abidin, R. R. (1990). Parenting stress index-short form. Charlottesville, VA: Pediatric Psychology Press. |
| Mode of administration | Parent self-report questionnaire | |
| Age range for use | Parents of children 1 month-12 years | |
| Domains Assessed | Parenting distress, parent-child dysfunctional interaction, and difficult child. Also provides Total Stress Scale. | |
| Related Measures | Parenting Stress Index (PSI) | |
| Burden | Training needed to administer | Minimal staff training required. Staff need to be familiar with all items before administering this self-report measure. |
| Minutes to complete | 10-15 minutes | |
| # of items | 36 | |
| Cost | Yes | |
| Adaptation for AIAN use | Adapted | No |
| Developer allows adaptation? | No | |
| Used with AIAN populations? | Yes | |
| Psychometrics | Norm-referenced | Yes |
| AIAN: Cronbach's alpha range | More information needed. Internal consistency of the PSI-SF was .94 in a sample of parents, 69% of whom identified as American Indian (Saunders, Sarche, Morse, Trucksess, & Biringen, in preparation). In a sample of American Indian mothers, internal consistency of Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction domain was .753 (Sarche, Croy, Big Crow, Mitchell, & Spicer, 2009). | |
| AIAN: Evidence of validity | More information needed. Criterion validity: In one study, the Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction domain was correlated with ITSEA-measured externalizing behaviors (Sarche et al., 2009). In another study, the Parent Stress and Difficult Child domains were both related to parental depression (measured by CES-D), parent anxiety (measured by GAD-7), and ITSEA-measured externalizing, internalizing, and dysregulation behaviors (Saunders et al., in preparation). | |
| Other populations: Cronbach's alpha range | Internal consistency of the domains: Parent Distress .88, Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction .88, Difficult Child .89, and Total Stress .95 (Reitman, Currier, & Stickle, 2002). PSI-SF scores were stable over a 1-year period among abusive parents (Haskett, Ahern, Ward & Allaire, 2006). | |
| Other populations: Evidence of validity | Construct validity: Results from Reitman, Currier, and Stickle (2002) support the construct validity of the PSI-SF. In this study, mother report of child behavior problems was associated with the Difficult Child domain; Brief Symptom Inventory scores were associated with Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction and Parental Distress. Criterion validity: scores on the Parenting Distress scale were correlated with the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, Conflict Tactics Scale, observed Sensitive Parenting index. Scores on the child scales (Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction and Difficult Child) relate to observed Positive Child Behavior scores and parent-report Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory(ECBI) (Haskett, Ahern, Ward, & Allaire, 2006). Predictive validity: PSI-SF predicted ECBI scores one year later (Haskett et al., 2006). Further, the child scales discriminated among parents at risk for abuse vs. those not at risk (Haskett et al., 2006). | |
| Source | Developer | Richard Abidin, PhD |
| Link | wpspublish.com | |
| Summary | Comments about sensitivity to change | PSI-SF scores decreased following early intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder and following an intervention aimed at reducing stress of parents with irritable infants, (Keefe, Karjlsen, Lobo, Kotzer, & Dudley, 2006; Wong & Kwan, 2010). PSI-SF scores also changed in response to stage of hospitalization among parents of children with feeding problems (Garro, Thurman, Kerwin, & Ducette, 2005). |
| General remarks |