TY - JOUR

T1 - Measuring dysfunctional parenting: Psychometrics of three versions of the Parenting Scale

AU - Prandstetter, Katharina

AU - Waller, Franziska

AU - Heinrichs, Nina

AU - Hutchings, Judy

AU - Ward, Catherine

AU - Danila, Ingrid

AU - Lachman, Jamie

AU - Foran, Heather

N1 - This publication was supported by a grant from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 779318 awarded to authors HMF, NH, JH, JML, and CLW.

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - ObjectiveThis study assessed the psychometric properties of three versions of the Parenting Scale (PS; original PS, 13-item version, and 10-item version) in three European middle-income countries.BackgroundThe PS is one of the most frequently used questionnaires for measuring dysfunctional discipline strategies. Although its validity has been extensively investigated in American samples, there are mixed results regarding the recommended number of items and subscales, raising the question of replicability across European middle-income countries.MethodMultigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) and item response theory (IRT) were applied to N = 835 parents from North Macedonia, Moldova, and Romania.ResultsAll three versions were significantly correlated with parental- and child-related variables. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the best model fit for the 10-item version, and configural and partial metric invariance across countries could be established for this version. Item response theory analyses also supported this measure.ConclusionsOur findings show that the 10-item version performed better than the 13-item version and the original PS both overall and on the country level. Reliability values were somewhat lower than reported in studies from the United States.ImplicationsThe 10-item version constitutes a promising short measure for assessing dysfunctional parenting in European middle-income countries for researchers and practitioners.

AB - ObjectiveThis study assessed the psychometric properties of three versions of the Parenting Scale (PS; original PS, 13-item version, and 10-item version) in three European middle-income countries.BackgroundThe PS is one of the most frequently used questionnaires for measuring dysfunctional discipline strategies. Although its validity has been extensively investigated in American samples, there are mixed results regarding the recommended number of items and subscales, raising the question of replicability across European middle-income countries.MethodMultigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) and item response theory (IRT) were applied to N = 835 parents from North Macedonia, Moldova, and Romania.ResultsAll three versions were significantly correlated with parental- and child-related variables. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the best model fit for the 10-item version, and configural and partial metric invariance across countries could be established for this version. Item response theory analyses also supported this measure.ConclusionsOur findings show that the 10-item version performed better than the 13-item version and the original PS both overall and on the country level. Reliability values were somewhat lower than reported in studies from the United States.ImplicationsThe 10-item version constitutes a promising short measure for assessing dysfunctional parenting in European middle-income countries for researchers and practitioners.

KW - dysfunctional parenting

KW - items response theory (IRT)

KW - Low and Middle Income Countries

KW - Parenting Scale

KW - psychometric evulation

U2 - 10.1111/fare.12732

DO - 10.1111/fare.12732

M3 - Article

VL - 72

SP - 1254

EP - 1275

JO - Family Relations

JF - Family Relations

SN - 1741-3729

IS - 3

ER -