Descriptive Information
Title: Parenting Stress Index
Edition: 4
Dates of Publication and Revision: 1983; 2012
Author: Richard R. Abidin, EdD
Source: PAR Inc. 16204 North Florida Ave. Lutz, Fl 33549
Costs: Kit-$216.00, Answer sheets- $76.00, Profile forms-$27.00, Booklet-$70.00, Manual-$76.00, Continuing education materials $25.00
Purpose Identify parent – child problem areas
Type of Test: Self report/screening questionnaire
Target Population and Ages: Parents of children 0 to 12 years
Time Requirements – Administration and Scoring: 20 minutes/5 minutes
Test Administration
Administration: individual; self report
Scoring: plot profile analysis on scoring form; computer program is available
Type of information, resulting from testing: raw scores, percentiles and T-scores
Environment for Testing: medical centers, outpatient therapy, pediatric practices, treatment outcome monitoring, designing a treatment plan, setting priorities for intervention and follow up evaluation.
Equipment and Materials Needed: paper, pencil, form
Examiner Qualifications: Level C (bachelors or masters in psychology, school counseling, occupational therapy, speech language pathology, social work, education, or related field. If bachelors then need license or certification.)
Psychometric Characteristics: Validation studies conducted within a variety of foreign populations, including Chinese, Portuguese, French Canadian, Finnish, and Dutch, suggest that the PSI is a robust measure that maintains its validity with diverse non-English-speaking cultures. Expanded norms are organized by each year of child age
Standardization/normative data: collected from a sample of 534 mothers and 522 fathers stratified to match the demographic composition of the 2007 U.S. Census. Recommend further evaluation with parent scoring 260 or above. Recommend referral for professional services to clients with score of 17 or above on life stress analysis.
Evidence of Reliability: total-.95; Parent .75-.87; child .78-.88. test-retest – .69-.91 parent, .55-.82 child
Evidence of Validity: Factorial validity – 41% of variance on child section accounted for by 6 factors; 44% on Parent section by 7 parent factors. Low scores correlate with parents having little investment in parenting or dysfunction in parent-child system. May also be found in parents with high defensiveness, supporting importance of administrator creating safe, accepting test environment.
Discriminative yes- gives norms
Predictive yes- determines those at risk
Summary Comments
Strengths: form written at a 5th grade reading level, multiple languages, can screen in an initial interview to determine the need for individual or family counseling. A computer software scoring program is available that can interpret responses, lists the risks for the child and makes recommendations. There is a validity index that looks at Defensive Responding.
Weaknesses: Poor support for subtest organization and profile analysis indicates that global scores should be used for screening purposes only
Clinical Applications: Can be used to screen and evaluate the parenting system and identify possible problems in a child’s or parent’s behavior. The information can then be used to create a plan for treatment, prioritize intervention and for follow-up assessment
References
- PAR inc. Parenting stress index, fourth edition. 2012. http://www4.parinc.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductID=PSI-4 , Accessed March 11, 2015.
- Parenting stress index (PSI-4), fourth edition. 2015. http://www.wpspublish.com/store/p/2925/parenting-stress-index-psi-4-fourth-edition Accessed March 11, 2015.
- Parenting stress index. American Psychological Association. http://www.apa.org/pi/about/publications/caregivers/practice-settings/assessment/tools/parenting-stress.aspx . Accessed March 11, 2015.
Research Article
Torowicz D, Irving SY, Hanlon AL, Sumpter DF, Medoff-Cooper B. Infant temperament and parent stress in 3 month old infants following surgery for complex congenital heart disease. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2010; 31(3):202-208
The purpose of this study was to compare and detect temperament and maternal stress differences healthy controls and infants with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) at 3 months of age. Subjects included full term infants with a birth weight of at least 2500 grams who endured palliative or corrective surgery within six weeks of birth. Subjects were chosen from a prospective, longitudinal, observational study of infants with complex congenital heart disease. Subjects were excluded if they had congenital or acquired anomalies, gastrointestinal disorders, orofacial clefts, neurological impairments or if they had any known congenital disorder that would affect nutrition intake and growth. Parental stress, measured by the Parental Stress Index and infant temperament, measured by the Early Infancy Temperament Questionnaire were measured in 129 mothers and respective infants. Compared to biventricular physiology and healthy controls, infants with single ventricle physiology were less distractible and more negative in mood. Compared to healthy controls, infants with CHD generated more stress secondary to the demand for care. The mean PSI subscale score for the single ventricle infants were significantly higher than the control group in 5 of the 6 child domain areas, competence in the parent domain and overall total stress. Mean PSI subscales were significantly different between the biventricular and control groups. This study was limited by its use of convenience sample and lack of control of psychosocial factors. The study was strengthened by its large sample size. In conclusion, there is a need for guidance to parents before discharge to better understand, and react to the behavior style of their children, especially those with single ventricle physiology due to the higher risk of stress.