Refining the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) in Chinese Parents

The Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) is a popular brief assessment of parenting stress. However, its latent structure and psychometric properties have not been extensively addressed, in particular in non-Western cultures. The present study is the first to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the PSI-SF in parents from Mainland China (683 mother-father dyads; mean age of mothers = 37.10 years, SD = 3.68; mean age of fathers = 39.81 years, SD = 4.13). Initial analyses revealed that previously proposed factor structure of the PSI-SF did not fit the data well. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were then conducted to develop a psychometrically sound and efficient abbreviated version of the PSI-SF. In this new version of 15 items (PSI-SF-15), there are three factors (i.e., parental distress, parent-child dysfunctional interaction, and difficult child). This abbreviated scale showed strict measurement invariance across sex of parent and satisfactory internal consistency. The convergent validity of the PSI-SF-15 were supported by its expected relations with the original PSF-SF measures, the multitrait-multimethod procedure, and its expected relations with scores on parenting behavior, parental depressiveness, and children's conduct problems. In conclusion, these results suggest that the PSI-SF-15 is a valid measure of parenting stress in Chinese parents, and that it holds promise as an informative and reliable alternative to the original PSI-SF when administration time is limited.