PSI™

Through early identification of parent-child systems under stress and the application of interventions aimed at reducing stress, the frequency and intensity of behavioral and emotional disturbances among children can be significantly reduced.

The PSI identifies dysfunctional parenting and predicts the potential for parental behavior problems and child adjustment difficulties within the family system.

Administering the PSI

The PSI is a 101-item inventory plus Life Stress scale designed to evaluate the magnitude of stress in the parent-child system. It is composed of two domains, Child and Parent, which combine to form the Total Stress scale. Within the Child Domain, six subscales evaluate sources of stress as gathered from the parent’s report of child characteristics. Within the Parent Domain, seven subscales measure sources of stress related to parent characteristics. The Parenting Stress Index–Short Form (PSI-SF) is a 36-item abbreviated version of the full PSI.

Since the PSI-3 was published in 1995, a considerable body of literature on the PSI has accumulated, allowing for deeper interpretation of test results and providing continued evidence for the clinical utility of the PSI. In addition, the demographic composition of the United States have evolved significantly. It was determined that the PSI-4 would allow these changes to be integrated and would provide a more accurate and reliable measure of parenting stress.