Psychometric properties and clinical applications of the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory

Parent-Child Relationship Inventory

The need for an effective assessment of parenting is evident in areas such as research, counseling, and child custody cases. Finding a reliable and valid assessment tool that is appropriate for all demographics is a challenge, as the definition of good parenting may differ among various ethnic, generational, or socio-economic groups. This paper will examine the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI), an assessment whose purpose is to measure parents' feeling toward parenting and their children. In particular, the psychometric properties of the assessment will be discussed as well as how the instrument in used in research and practice.

Description

The PCRI is comprised of 78 self-report questions in the following content scales: Parental Support; Satisfaction with Parenting; Involvement; Communication; Limit Setting; Autonomy; and Role Orientation (Boothroyd, 2010). Parents respond to questions, which are written on a fourth grade level, using a 4-point Likert scale. According to Boothroyd, the assessment may be administered to individuals or groups and takes about 15 minutes. Marchant and Paulson (2010) assert that the PCRI may be used to determine difficulties between parents and children in both research and clinical settings. However they caution that the assessment should be used in conjunction with other instruments.

The PCRI may be hand scored, scored with a computer program, or sent to the test publisher for scoring. Marchant and Paulson (2010) explain that the scores are based on a sample of over 1,100 parents. Of concern to Boothroyd (2010) was that only 4.4% of the 2,000 schools and day-care centers solicited agreed to participate. This low response may have led to a sample population that was not indicative of the U.S. population. Boothroyd argues that the respondents represent a group that "was better educated and less diverse that the U.S. population as a whole." Also of concern was the fact that separate norms were not developed for Whites and African-Americans or for those who were college educated vs. those without college educations. According to Boothroyd, differences on the Satisfaction and Autonomy scales could indicate that separate norms are needed for these groups. Marchant and Paulson add that young parents, African-Americans, Hispanics, less educated parents, and families from the Midwestern and western United States are underrepresented in the norming sample. The test authors did include separate norms for mothers and fathers.

Psychometric Properties

Several reviews have been conducted assessing the psychometric properties of the PCRI. Boothroyd (2010) reports the following reliability data. Internal consistency ranges from .70 on the Parental Support scale to .88 on the Limit Setting scale with a median value alpha of .80. Additionally, Boothroyd provides information on two studies which were conducted to measure the test-retest reliability of the PCRI. On the first study, in which the test was conducted a second time after a one-week interval, test-retest reliability was estimated in the range of .66 on the Communication scale to .93 on the Limit Setting scale (Boothroyd). In a second study, in which the tests were conducted five months apart, the test-retest reliability results were lower, ranging from .44 on the Autonomy scale to .71 on the Parental Support and Role Orientation scales. Most of the reviewers found that the reliability data indicate that the PCRI is a sound measure.

Reviewers differ on their opinions of the validity data. According to Boothroyd (2010), "A large initial pool of items reviewed by expert judges combined with a multistep item selection process during scale development should ensure the PCRI has sufficient content validity." However, Marchant and Paulson (2010) express concerns about the demographics of the sample and the validity of the assessment for all demographic groups. They also suggest that "the validity of a standardized parenting score is questionable." Finally, Heinze and Grisso (1996) assert that while some studies have provided promising validity data, future research needs to be conducted.

Such research was conducted by Coffman et al. (2006) whose study investigated the psychometric properties of the PCRI. The purpose of their study was to "investigate the reliability of the PCRI and its validity as a measure of interactions and relationships mothers and fathers have with their adolescents" (Coffman et al., p. 210). The study was conducted with participants of the Fullerton Longitudinal Study (FLS), which began in 1979 with 130-one-year-olds. The FLS was conducted at six-month intervals until the children reached age 5. Then the study was conducted annually. When the children reached ages 15 and 16, the parents completed the PCRI in order to assess the parents' attitude about parenting and the parent-child relationship (Coffman et al.). The study found that internal consistency was acceptable (at least .70) for the Satisfaction, Involvement, and Limit-Setting scales; however, the Communication scale (for mothers) and the Autonomy scale (for both mothers and fathers) had internal consistencies ranging from .47 to .68 (Coffman et al.).

Coffman et al. (2006) examined three indicators to determine convergent validity. These include: "parent reports of cohesion and conflict among family members on the FES; adolescents' perceptions of the quality of their relationships with their parents jointly on the SDQ-H and FES; and adolescent perceptions of their unique relationship with their mother and father on the NRI" (Coffman et al., p. 211). The study found convergent validity within informant with the FES. The study also found that mothers' reports corresponded more significantly than did fathers' reports as compared to the adolescents' responses. Therefore, Coffman et al. concluded the following:

All scales revealed acceptable levels of internal consistency except the Communication scale (for mothers) and the Autonomy scale (for both parents);

1-year temporal stability coefficients were significant and reached moderate-to-strong magnitudes for all scales;

With respect to convergent validity, parent reports on the PCRI predicted their impressions of family climate assessed one year later; and When individual parent-child dyads were examined, cross informant data demonstrated that PCRI scores related concurrently and predictively to adolescents' perceptions of the quality of their relationships with their mothers, but not with their fathers (p. 212).

Discussion

While some of the reviews expressed concern regarding the lack of diversity in the norming sample, all reviewers indicate that the PCRI is a reliable and valid assessment for measuring parents' attitudes toward parenting and their children. However, some caution against the use of the scale to label parenting behaviors as good or bad. Marchant and Paulson (2010) argue that defining good parenting based on the mostly white, middle-class norming sample may represent a bias in judgment. Heinze and Grisso (1996) suggest that rather than labeling parenting behaviors as good or bad, custody courts should determine which behaviors are most appropriate for the child. For example, some students may be more successful in an environment with greater autonomy, where other children may need more structure and limits. Finally, Boothroyd (2010) suggests that because the authors of PCRI do not provide guidance on how parents are defined, the assessment may not be appropriate for families with a parenting structure other than two biological parents. It seems that while the PCRI is considered a valid and reliable assessment for some populations, further study should be conducted with a more diverse norming sample.