Parenting Stress of Low-Income Parents of Toddlers and Preschoolers: Psychometric Properties of a Short Form of the Parenting Stress Index.

2007

This study examines psychometric properties of 2 scales of the Parenting Stress Index - Short Form (PSI - SF) in a sample of preschool children from low-income families. Design. The factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Parental Distress and Parent - Child Dysfunctional Interaction subscales were assessed for 1122 Early Head Start parents of 15- (n = 959), 25- (n = 899), and 37-month-old (n = 845) children in a multisite study. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) compared the fit of 2-factor scales that are recommended by the developer with theoretically derived 5-factor scales. Results. CFA indicated that the 5-factor scales fit the data better than the 2-factor scales. Both 2- and 5-factor scales had high internal consistency, and the pattern of relations between the new scales and validity constructs support their usefulness. Conclusions. The PSI - SF scales can be helpful in clinical applications because the proposed scales clarify relations between parent and child outcomes and specific aspects of stress due to parenting.

Peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals Published/In Press

Professionals

Electronic (disc, CD, 508 compliant web posting)

N/A