Arnold, D. S., O'leary, S. G., Wolff, L. S., & Acker, M. M. (1993). The Parenting Scale: a measure of dysfunctional parenting in discipline situations. Psychological Assessment, 5(2), 137–144. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.5.2.137
Sample:
Participants — 168 mothers of children 18 to 48 months old (98 boys and 70 girls; mean age = 24 months)
Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified
Summary:
A rating scale was designed to measure dysfunctional discipline practices in parents of young children. Three stable factors of dysfunctional discipline style were identified: (a) Laxness, (b) Overreactivity, and (c) Verbosity. The Parenting Scale exhibited adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Mothers of clinic children reported more dysfunctional parenting than did mothers of nonclinic children. Parenting Scale scores were related to maternal ratings of child behavior and marital discord. Most important, Parenting Scale scores correlated significantly with observational measures of dysfunctional discipline and child misbehavior.
Reitman, D., Currier, R. O., Hupp, S. D., Rhode, P. C., Murphy, M. A., & O'Callaghan, P. M. (2001). Psychometric characteristics of the Parenting Scale in a Head Start population. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30(4), 514–524. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15374424JCCP3004_08
Sample:
Participants — 399 mothers and their Head Start children
Race/Ethnicity — 85% African American
Summary:
The PS, which consists of 3 subscales–Laxness, Overreactivity, and Verbosity–was subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Neither the original 3-factor structure, nor a 2-factor structure consisting of the original Laxness and Overreactivity factors, fit the data. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis yielded a 2-factor solution that was generally consistent with the Overreactivity and Laxness subscales identified by Arnold, O'Leary, Wolff, and Acker (1993). The 2-factor CFA solution was replicated with a sample of 216 similar mothers, and the 5-item Overreactivity and Laxness subscales retained 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 setting. Scores on the PS were not correlated significantly with measures of social desirability, maternal education level, or parent report of internalizing behavior problems. Concurrent validity evidence was obtained by correlating the PS with measures of parenting satisfaction and support, parenting stress, maternal depression, and measures of externalizing child behavior problems.
Steele, R. G., Nesbitt-Daly, J. S., Daniel, R. C., & Forehand, R. (2005). Factor structure of the Parenting Scale in a low-income African American sample. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14(4), 535–549. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-005-7187-x
Sample:
Participants — 271 mother-child dyads from urban and rural areas in the southern and southeastern US
Race/Ethnicity — 100% African American
Summary:
This study evaluated the relative goodness-of-fit of two factor structures of the Parenting Scale among two samples of low-income African American families. Participants included 271 mother-child dyads from urban and rural areas in the southern and southeastern US, who completed the Parenting Scale along with other measures of parenting style and dyadic relationship. Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) indicated that a two-factor solution, comprising Laxness and Overreactivity dimensions, was the better fit to the data. Some direct evidence for convergent validity was provided by a correlation between the Laxness factor of the Parenting Scale and the Firm/Lax Control subscale of the Children's Report of Parenting Behavior Inventory (CRPBI).
Prinzie, P., Onghena, P., & Hellinckx, W. (2007). Reexamining the Parenting Scale: Reliability, factor structure, and concurrent validity of a scale for assessing the discipline practices of mothers and fathers of elementary-school-aged children. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 23(1), 24–31. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759.23.1.24
Sample:
Participants — 596 mothers and 559 fathers of nonclinical elementary school-aged children.
Race/Ethnicity — All parents are of Belgian nationality
Summary:
The reliability, factor structure, and concurrent validity of the Parenting Scale was examined for parents of elementary school-aged children. A confirmatory factor analysis could not replicate the three factors found by Arnold et al. (1993). An exploratory factor analysis, using data of the mother sample, revealed two interpretable factors corresponding with the overreactivity and laxness factors identified in previous studies of the parenting scale. The first factor contains 11 and the second factor 9 items. Confirmatory factor analyses, using 3-year follow-up data from the mother and the father sample separately, replicated this factor structure. The internal consistency and test-retest stability were acceptable to good. Evidence was found for the assumption that inadequate parenting is positively related to problem behavior measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991) and stress in parenting measured by the NOSI, a Dutch revision of the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1983).
Rhoades, K. A., & O'Leary, S. G. (2007). Factor structure and validity of the Parenting Scale. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 36(2), 137–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374410701274157
Sample:
Participants — 453 couples parenting 3-to 7-year-old children
Race/Ethnicity — 19% Minority
Summary:
Confirmatory factor analyses based on the scoring derived from 5 prior studies of the Parenting Scale were conducted. Comparative analyses favored the Reitman et al. (2001) 2-factor scoring system as well as a 3-factor solution, including Lax, Overreactive, and Hostile discipline. This 3-factor solution demonstrated good fit across parent gender and child age and gender. Mothers rated themselves as more overreactive than fathers. The factor scores correlated significantly with several validity measures, including child behavior problems. The Hostile factor contributed significantly to the prediction of child behavior problems after controlling for Lax and Overreactive discipline. Both parents reported using more dysfunctional discipline than they thought they should.
Freeman, K. A., & DeCourcey, W. (2007). Further analysis of the discriminate validity of the Parenting Scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 29(3), 169–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-006-9040-y
Sample:
Participants — Parents of 75 children ages 2 to 12 (45 in the clinic-referred and 30 in the community sample group)
Race/Ethnicity — 74.7% Caucasian;8% African American, 6.7% Hispanic,1.3% Asian American, and 9.3% bi- or multi-racial.
Summary:
The psychometric properties of the Parenting Scale (PS), a measure employed to identify use of dysfunctional strategies for managing child misbehavior, were examined. Parents completed the PS and a measure of child misbehavior. Mean scores were significantly higher for parents in the clinic-referred group on the PS Total, Laxness, and Overreactivity scales. However, there were no between-group differences in the number of parents who scored at or above a cutoff score designed to identify "clinical significance" on any PS scale. Reported parenting strategies were associated with reported child misbehavior regardless of group status; associations were not stronger depending on referral status. Results support the ability of the PS to discriminate between referred and community sample families. However, the PS scales were not precise in identifying clinically significant variations in parenting practices.
Karazsia, B. T., van Dulmen, M. H., & Wildman, B. G. (2008). Confirmatory factor analysis of Arnold et al.'s Parenting Scale across race, age, and sex. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 17(4), 500–516. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-007-9170-1
Sample:
Participants — 408 parents of children (ages 2–16 years) presenting to four community-based pediatric practices for routine care in and around a Midwestern U.S. city.
Race/Ethnicity — Maternal race: 72.8% Caucasian, 19.9% African American, 1.5% Latina, 1.5% Asian, 1.0% Other
Summary:
This study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to investigate the factor structure of several models of Arnold et al.'s Parenting Scale across children from various age groups and races. Parents completed questionnaires pertaining to various aspects of parenting and child behavior problems. Results indicated that a two-factor revision proposed by Reitman et al. (2001) represented the data well and better than the original three-factor structure and other two-factor models. Results from multigroup CFA analyses indicated that this factor structure did not vary across child sex, child age, and parental race. Results of validity analyses indicated that scores on both factors were related to reports of children's behavior and parental affect and cognitions. This study was the first to use multigroup CFA procedures to demonstrate that relationships between individual items and factors of the Parenting Scale are similar for parents of children across various age groups.
Salari, R., Terreros, C., & Sarkadi, A. (2012). Parenting Scale: which version should we use?. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 34(2), 268–281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-012-9281-x
Sample:
Participants — 617 mothers and 430 fathers of 2 to 5-year-olds
Race/Ethnicity — Most of the parents were born in Sweden (88%)
Summary:
The purpose of this study was to compare various forms of the PS in terms of factor structure and other psychometric properties. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that shorter structural models provided a better fit compared to the original model; however, none led to an optimal fit. Other psychometric properties such as internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent and predictive validity were slightly higher for the original Laxness and Overreactivity subscales. The findings from this study and previous studies suggest that the inter-item relationship in the scale might be too sensitive to sample characteristics, implying that factor analysis might not be the best way to measure the scale's validity. Nevertheless, other psychometric properties support the use of the Parenting Scale in the assessment of dysfunctional parenting practices. We recommend using the original Laxness and Overreactivity subscales rather than the later models, especially for research purposes.
