ABSTRACT
Competence: sense of competence in the parenting role, Isolation: lack of social support for his or her role as parent Attachment: assesses parent's sense of attachment to the child, Health: the impact of physical health on parenting, Role Restriction: impact of the restrictions parenting places on parent's choices and freedom, Depression: impact of depression and feelings of gUilt on parenting behavior. Spouse: help and emotional support from the child's other parent
are responded to using a 5-point Likert scale with anchor points ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." The PSI requires approximately 20 minutes to complete and requires a fourth-to fifth-grade reading level. The PSI may be administered using either a test booklet and a self-scoring answer sheet or a computer program that administers, scores, and writes an interpretive report. The computer program not only interprets the results but provides recommendations, at-risk-for diagnoses, profile comparisons to known clinical samples, and a topically arranged research reference list of validity studies. There is also an upward extension of the PSI called the Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA; Sheras, Abidin, & Konold, 1998) for use with adolescents aged 11 to 19. The SIPA is a separate measure and is mentioned for information purposes; but is not covered in this presentation.
