Parenting Stress Index - Short Form (PSI-SF)

The PSI-SF asks where parenting stress is coming from. The three sources are measured separately, because the answer changes what a clinician does next.Parental Distress covers stress arising from the parent's own situation — depression, conflict with a partner, restrictions on their life. Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction covers whether the relationship feels rewarding: does the child meet the parent's expectations, does the parent feel rejected. Difficult Child covers the child's temperament and behavior, the things that make them easy or hard to manage.

Currently on its 4th editions (PSI-4-SF), the measure consists of three sub scales with twelve items each, thirty-six in total, rated from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The three combine into a Total Stress score.

• Shirley Ryan AbilityLab's Overview

Licensing Notes: Distributed through WPS. Forms are consumables. Reproduction requires publisher permission.

Learn More: Scores at or above the 85th percentile are considered high. And there is a Defensive Responding validity index — a score of 10 or below suggests the parent may be presenting themselves more favourably than the situation warrants, and the manual directs you to check it before interpreting anything else.