Faculty Articles

A Critical Evaluation of the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) in a Head Start Population.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2002

Publication Title

Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

Volume

31

Issue/Number

3

First Page

384

ISSN

1537-4416

Last Page

392

Abstract/Excerpt

Examines psychometric characteristics of the 36-item Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) in a low-income, predominantly minority population. Relations between the PSI-SF, demographic, and psychosocial factors associated with parenting stress were examined. Internal consistencies for the PSI-SF were very good to excellent. However, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that a 3-factor model comprised of Parental Distress, Difficult Child, and Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction subscales was only marginally superior to a single-factor model. A series of multiple regression analyses examining the relation of psychosocial and demographic measures to PSI-SF subscales were more supportive of the 3-factor model proposed by Abidin (1995). As anticipated, the PSI-SF Difficult Child subscale was most strongly associated with a measure of child oppositionality, and the Parental Distress subscale was most highly associated with self-reported psychological symptoms and low income. Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction was associated with parent reports of psychological symptoms as well as low income and education. The results appear to support the use of the PSI-SF with lower socioeconomic, primarily African American mothers. Additionally, the data provide indirect support for the generalizability of a 3-factor model of parenting stress.

DOI

10.1207/153744202760082649

Peer Reviewed

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