THE PARENTAL STRESS SCALE - INITIAL PSYCHOMETRIC EVIDENCE

The development of a measure of parental stress, the Parental Stress S cale, is presented. All participants (total N = 1276) completed the Pa rental Stress Scale and some also completed the Parenting Stress Index , a generic measure of stress called the Perceived Stress Scale, relev ant measures of emotions and role satisfaction (e.g. loneliness, marit al satisfaction, guilt, etc.), and one group completed the Parental St ress Scale twice. Analyses suggested that the Parental Stress Scale is highly reliable, both internally and over time, and related to the ge neral measure of stress. Also, results were consistent across parents of differing parental characteristics, suggesting the stability of sca le characteristics. The validity of Parental Stress Scale scores was s upported by predicted correlations With measures of relevant emotions and role satisfaction and significant discrimination between mothers o f children in treatment for emotional/behavioral problems and developm ental disabilities vs mothers of children not receiving treatment. Fin ally, a factor analysis suggested that a 4-factor structure underlies responses to the Parental Stress Scale, despite its high internal reli ability.