A BRIEF TEST OF PARENTAL BEHAVIORAL SKILLS

The present study details the development of a brief, criterion-refere nced, multiple-choice test designed to assess parental behavioral skil ls. A nine item parent-child conflict questionnaire was developed and administered to parents of children referred to two clinic locations a nd to parents of nonreferred children. Factor-analytic techniques were used to refine the scale. Parents of nonclinic children obtained high er scores than parents of clinic-referred children. Further, only pare nts of nonclinic children scored better as the number of children rear ed increased. The effect of education level was not significant. Impli cations of these results are discussed.