A CROSS-VALIDATION OF THE PARENT PERCEPTION INVENTORY

The Parent Perception Inventory (PPI; Hazzard & Christensen, no date; Hazzard, Christensen, & Margolin, 1983) was developed as a measure of children's perceptions of parental behavior, particularly for use in b ehavioral family treatment outcome studies. In the present cross-valid ation study, the PPI was administered to children in 12 physically abu sive families, 15 child problem behavior families (clinic-referred for child behavior problems) and 16 nondistressed families. All of these families were single parent, mother-headed, and impoverished. Data wer e gathered in the families' homes. Data from the present sample were c ompared with data from the original sample of Hazzard et al. (1983). C hildren from nondistressed families in the present study viewed their mothers' behavior more negatively than those in Hazard et al.'s origin al sample. It seems that how children perceive their mothers may be af fected by the extent of the mother's child-rearing burden and by the g eneral disadvantage of the family, e.g., low socioeconomic status. Sma ll but significant correlations between child report of parent behavio r on the PPI and parent report of child behavior offer some convergent validity for the instrument.