Psychometric characteristics of the Parenting Scale in a head start population

Examined the reliability, construct, and concurrent validity of the Parenti ng Scale (PS), a brief instrument designed to measure dysfunctional parenti ng practices for parents of young children. In Study 1, 183 primarily Afric an American mothers and their Head Start children completed the PS. The PS, which consists of 3 subscales-Laxness, Overreactivity, and Verbosity-was s ubjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CEA). Neither the original 3-fact or structure, nora 2-factor structure consisting of the original Laxness an d Overreactivity factors, fit the data. A subsequent exploratory factor ana lysis yielded a 2-factor solution that was generally consistent with the Ov erreactivity and Laxness subscales identified by Arnold, O'Leary, Wolff, an d Acker (1993). The 2-factor CFA solution was replicated with a sample of 2 16 similar mothers, and the 5-item Overreactivity and Laxness subscales ret ained internal consistencies above .70. Analysis of the convergent validity of the modified PS and its 2 subscales revealed moderate associations with measures of permissiveness, authoritarianism, involvement, and limit setti ng. Scores on the PS were not correlated significantly with measures of soc ial desirability, maternal education level, or parent report of internalizi ng behavior problems. Concurrent validity evidence was obtained by correlat ing the PS with measures of parenting satisfaction and support, parenting s tress, maternal depression, and measures of externalizing child behavior pr oblems.