Standardization
TTiimmee 11The final phase of PSS development involved
national standardization and validity analyses. In a
nationwide “impact of divorce” study by the National
Association of School Psychologists, 144 psychologists
from 38 states were selected in a stratified random
sample based on regional population density. The psy-
chologists randomly selected 699 children from the first,
third, and fifth grades to represent samples of divorced-
family and intact-family children. From the total sample
of 699 families, 341 married and 303 divorced parents
completed the scale by the project deadline date. The
sample was composed primarily of mothers (89%),
Caucasians (88%), and public school parents (97%).
The sample was evenly balanced by child’s gender,
grade in school, and school demographic area.
Factor analyses of these data yielded three factors
with eigenvalues greater than one. Separate analyses
were done for divorced and intact families, and the
factors were found to be equivalent, with congruence
coefficients at .93 or greater. The first factor was
labeled Satisfaction with Spouse/Ex-Spouse Parenting
Performance, the second factor was labeled Satisfac-
tion with Parent-Child Relationship, and the third
factor was labeled Satisfaction with Parenting
Performance. Internal reliabilities for the three factors
were r=.96,r=.86, and r=.82, respectively. These
three factors of 15 items each made up the final scale.TTiimmee 22Two years later, data were gathered on a follow-
up subsample of 137 subjects. Chi-square analyses on
demographic variables verified that this sample was
representative of the original study group. Internal
reliabilities for follow-up sample PSS scores were cal-
culated and found again to be high (ris equal to .95,
.89, and .82 for the three scales, respectively). Test-
retest reliability was moderate across this 2-year span
(ris equal to .81, .59, and .64, respectively, for the
three factors).Validity
The extensive battery of instruments used in the nation-
wide study and the assessment of subjects at two points
in time enabled an unusual number of validity com-
parisons. At Time 1, PSS scales showed consistentlysignificant relationships with children’s social and aca-
demic performance; family health ratings; children’s
ratings of parent-child relationships; and parental mar-
ital, vocational, and life satisfaction scores. Time 1 PSS
scores also significantly predicted a number of impor-
tant child and parental variables 2 years later. For exam-
ple, with regard to PSS 1 (Satisfaction with Spouse/
Ex-Spouse Support), teachers rated the children of sat-
isfied parents as less withdrawn, happier, working hard,
having fewer behavior problems, and receiving higher
grades in several school subjects. Time 2 children’s
health status and teacher ratings of social competence
were predicted across the 2-year time interval by all
three PSS scales.
Comparing families of high and low parenting sat-
isfaction yielded additional validity information.
Using only subjects falling into the top or bottom one
third of the PSS distribution at Time 1, consistently
significant differences in criterion scores favoring
the highly satisfied parents were noted. PSS total scores
differed significantly on seven of the eight selected
criteria, including total teacher ratings of classroom
behavior for two rating scales, academic achievement
test scores, parents’ ratings of children’s behavior prob-
lems, parents’ life and marital satisfaction scale scores,
and children’s interview responses about the quality
of their relationships with their parents.
In other studies, the PSS demonstrated additional
substantial evidence of validity. For example, a study
of stress in the lives of college-educated women used
PSS 2 and PSS 3 to assess satisfaction with the parent-
child relationship and parenting performance. For
the 630 women respondents, these PSS scales were
strongly related to a broad array of other life mea-
sures, including total support from friends, relatives,
and the community; marital satisfaction; life satisfac-
tion; and physical health. Two additional studies
conducted in urban schools with high-risk special
education populations and one done in a child guid-
ance center with behavioral problem children showed
strong positive relationships between child adjustment
variables and PSS scores.
PSS assessment of 1,710 Chinese parents was
done as part of a cross-cultural study conducted in
the People’s Republic of China. Correlations with
child variables were consistently in the expected
direction. Better PSS scores related to better academ-
ic and social adjustment of children. This cross-
cultural validity demonstration further strengthened
confidence in the PSS instrument, illustrating thatParenting Satisfaction Scale (PSS)——— 539P-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:43 PM Page 539