This study examined the psychometric characteristics of the Parent and Family Adjustment Scales (PAFAS). The PAFAS was designed as a brief outcome measure for assessing changes in parenting practices and parental adjustment in the evaluation of both public health and individual or group parenting interventions. The inventory consists of the Parenting scale measuring parenting practices and quality of parent-child relationship and of the Family Adjustment scale measuring parental emotional adjustment and partner and family support in parenting. Two studies were conducted to validate the inventory. A sample of 370 parents participated in Study 1 and a sample of 771 parents participated in Study 2. Children's ages ranged from 2 to 12 years old. In Study 1 confirmatory factor analysis supported an 18-item, four factor model of PAFAS Parenting, and a 12-item, three factor model of PAFAS Family Adjustment. Psychometric evaluation of the PAFAS revealed that the scales had good internal consistency, as well as satisfactory construct and predictive validity. In Study 2 confirmatory factor analysis supported stability of the factor structures of PAFAS Parenting and PAFAS Family Adjustment revealed in Study 1. Potential uses of the measure and implications for future validation studies are discussed.

This study examined the psychometric characteristics of the Child Adjustment and Parent Efficacy Scale (CAPES). The CAPES was designed as a brief outcome measure in the evaluation of both public health and individual or group parenting interventions. The scale consists of a 30-item intensity scale with two subscales measuring children's behaviour problems and emotional maladjustment and a 20-item self-efficacy scale that measures parent's self-efficacy in managing specific child problem behaviours. A sample of 347 parents of 2-12-year-old children participated in the study. Psychometric evaluation of the CAPES revealed that both the intensity and self-efficacy scales had good internal consistency, as well as satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity. Potential uses of the measure and implications for future validation studies are discussed.

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This paper outlines the development and validation of the Work-Family Conflict Scale (WAFCS) designed to measure work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC) for use with parents of young children. An expert informant and consumer feedback approach was utilised to develop and refine 20 items, which were subjected to a rigorous validation process using two separate samples of parents of 2-12 year old children (n = 305 and n = 264). As a result of statistical analyses several items were dropped resulting in a brief 10-item scale comprising two subscales assessing theoretically distinct but related constructs: FWC (five items) and WFC (five items). Analyses revealed both subscales have good internal consistency, construct validity as well as concurrent and predictive validity. The results indicate the WAFCS is a promising brief measure for the assessment of work-family conflict in parents. Benefits of the measure as well as potential uses are discussed.

Research has shown that the congruence of parenting styles with cultural values, rather than parenting styles alone, impacts child adjustment. This study examined if parents' cultural values moderate the relationships between parenting styles and child outcomes across both an individualist culture (Australia) and a collectivist culture (Indonesia). Three hundred and eighty-seven parents of 2-10-year-old children from both countries reported their parenting styles, the importance of the collectivistic values (security, conformity, and tradition), and their child's emotion regulation and behavioral problems. In both countries, authoritative parenting was associated with higher child emotion regulation and lower levels of behavioral problems, and authoritarian parenting was associated with lower child emotion regulation and higher levels of behavioral problems. Although cultural values did not moderate the relationship between authoritarian parenting and child adjustment, in both countries greater importance placed on tradition attenuated the positive effect of authoritative parenting on child outcomes.

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Using the Health Belief Model (HBM) as a theoretical framework, we studied factors related to parental intention to participate in parenting programs and examined the moderating effects of parent gender on these factors. Participants were a community sample of 290 mothers and 290 fathers of 5- to 10-year-old children. Parents completed a set of questionnaires assessing child emotional and behavioral difficulties and the HBM constructs concerning perceived program benefits and barriers, perceived child problem susceptibility and severity, and perceived self-efficacy. The hypothesized model was evaluated using structural equation modeling. The results showed that, for both mothers and fathers, perceived program benefits were associated with higher intention to participate in parenting programs. In addition, higher intention to participate was associated with lower perceived barriers only in the sample of mothers and with higher perceived self-efficacy only in the sample of fathers. No significant relations were found between intention to participate and perceived child problem susceptibility and severity. Mediation analyses indicated that, for both mothers and fathers, child emotional and behavioral problems had an indirect effect on parents’ intention to participate by increasing the level of perceived benefits of the program. As a whole, the proposed model explained about 45 % of the variance in parental intention to participate. The current study suggests that mothers and fathers may be motivated by different factors when making their decision to participate in a parenting program. This finding can inform future parent engagement strategies intended to increase both mothers’ and fathers’ participation rates in parenting programs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11121-016-0696-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This study assesses interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory’s (IPARTheory’s) prediction that adults’ (both men’s and women’s) remembrances of parental (both maternal and paternal) rejection in childhood are likely to be associated with adults’ fear of intimacy, as mediated by adults’ psychological maladjustment and relationship anxiety. The study also assesses the prediction that these associations will not vary significantly by gender, ethnicity, language, culture, or other such defining conditions. To test these predictions a sample of 3,483 young adults in 13 nations responded to the mother and father versions of the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (short forms), Adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (short form), the Interpersonal Relationship Anxiety Questionnaire, the Fear of Intimacy Scale, and the Revised Personal Information Form. Results of multigroup analyses showed that adults’ remembrances of both maternal and paternal rejection in childhood independently predicted men’s and women’s fear of intimacy in all 13 countries. However, remembered maternal rejection was a significantly stronger predictor of adults’ fear of intimacy than was remembered paternal rejection. Results also confirmed the prediction in all 13 countries and across both genders that both maternal and paternal rejection independently predicted adults’ psychological maladjustment and relationship anxiety, which in turn predicted fear of intimacy. In addition, psychological maladjustment partially mediated the relation between remembrances of maternal and paternal rejection, and adults’ fear of intimacy in all 13 countries and both genders.