Search

Parenting predicts a wide range of developmental outcomes. Thus, improved assessment of parenting has critical implications for screening into services, identifying additional needs during interventions, and monitoring intervention progress. While there is rising interest in family research focusing on racial and ethnic diversity, there is an unmet need for valid, reliable, and equitable assessments of parenting in racially and ethnically diverse populations. The Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS) is a measure of parenting with strong psychometric properties. Despite its high utility, the MAPS is limited in that it was developed in a predominantly White sample (87%). Yet, minoritized racial and ethnic groups currently comprise 40% of the U.S. population. Therefore, this project extended the utility of the MAPS to racially and ethnically diverse families by (a) refining MAPS items using n = 100 cognitive interviews with parents from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds to enhance racial and ethnic representation, (b) quantitatively establishing the Revised MAPS factor structure, and (c) assessing reliability, validity, and measurement invariance by race and ethnicity among N = 1,699 parents (25.2% non-Hispanic White, 22.2% non-Hispanic Asian, 23.8% non-Hispanic Black, and 25.6% Hispanic). Following revisions guided by cognitive interviews to improve and add items, the factor structure of the MAPS was replicated in the Revised MAPS. Further, measurement invariance, reliability, and validity of the Revised MAPS were partially supported. Using a multimethod approach, this revision increases the utility of the MAPS by extension to this historically underrepresented segment of the U.S. population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Parenting has been implicated in a range of youth health outcomes. Positive parenting during adolescence, a critical period of developmental change, may equip youth with the necessary tools for their transition into adulthood and, for youth living with HIV, their transition from pediatric HIV care into adult HIV care. Yet, because few studies have carefully assessed the psychometric properties of parenting instruments applied cross-culturally, the validity of parenting research derived in these contexts remains unclear. This study tested the factor structure of the Children's Report of Parenting Behavior Inventory (CRPBI) in a novel setting (e.g., Rwanda), context (e.g., youth with HIV), and considering multiple informants (caregivers and youth). Youth ( N = 330) were on average 16.78 years of age; 51% self-identified as female. Caregivers ( N = 330) were on average 44.40 years of age; 80% self-identified as female. The factor structures for youth and caregiver CRPBIs appeared to be indicative of two dimensions: (a) acceptance and positive involvement, and (b) hostile detachment and rejection. The CRPBI worked well for youth reports and showed predictive validity. The CRPBI worked less well for caregivers, necessitating the removal of 10 items, seven of which were related to hostile detachment and rejection. The reliability of both CRPBIs was supported. The CRPBI appears to function well for youth, but not as well for caregivers, in this novel context with this unique population of youth with HIV. The findings support careful assessment of instruments developed in high-resource settings and then used in resource-constrained contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study explored measurement invariance of the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS; Parent & Forehand, 2017) across White, Hispanic, Black, and Asian American parents. Participants included 2,734 parents, 58% of whom were mothers. On average, parents were 36.32 years old ( SD = 9.54); the parent sample was 66.9% White non-Hispanic, 10.1% Black, 5.3% Asian, and 17.7% Hispanic regardless of race. Child ages ranged from 3 to 17 years ( M = 9.84, SD = 3.71), and 58% were identified as male. Parents completed a demographics questionnaire about themselves and their target child, and the 34-item MAPS. We explored measurement equivalence of the MAPS Broadband Positive and Negative parenting scales using item response theory to identify differential item functioning (DIF). Univariate analyses for Positive and Negative Parenting showed reliability was excellent. Twelve items assessing negative aspects of parenting exhibited bias by race/ethnicity. Specifically, when comparing racial and ethnic groups, three items had nonuniform DIF comparing Black and Asian participants, two items had nonuniform DIF comparing Black and Hispanic participants, and one item showed nonuniform DIF comparing Asian and Hispanic participants. When looking at Positive Parenting, no items showed evidence of DIF. Results from the present study suggest broadband Positive Parenting can be compared across ethnoracial groups, while findings raise concern about assessing Negative Parenting items when examining invariance across race and ethnicity. Findings from the present study imply that racial and ethnic comparisons are potentially invalid. These findings offer guidance for improving parenting assessment for racially/ethnically diverse populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Parenting provides many positive experiences for mothers and fathers but also presents them with many challenges, such as regulating their emotions during interactions with their children. While emotion regulation (ER) has emerged as an important predictor of parenting behavior and a transdiagnostic target of parenting interventions, measures specifically targeting ER in the parenting context are lacking. This study describes the development and evaluation of the Regulating Emotions in Parenting Scale (REPS). Study 1 used an exploratory factor analysis and supported a 3-factor (Adaptive Strategies, Suppression, and Rumination) structure of the REPS in a sample of 331 parents (73% women) recruited from Amazon MTurk (parent Mage = 36.02, SDage = 9.27). This factor structure was confirmed in Study 2 using confirmatory factor analysis in an independent sample of 662 parents (61% women; parent Mage = 36.81, SDage = 14.18). Tests of measurement invariance and differential item functioning provided evidence of invariance of the REPS by gender. Correlations between REPS factors and related measures of parenting, psychopathology, and general ER were in the expected direction; correlations between the REPS and parenting and psychopathology were significantly higher in magnitude than correlations between general measures of ER and parenting and psychopathology. The REPS also explained more of the variance in parenting measures than general measures of ER. These findings indicated that the REPS may provide greater specificity than general measures of ER. Future studies should replicate these findings in other populations and establish invariance by race and ethnicity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).