Examining the psychometric properties of the simplified Parenting Stress Index-Short Form with Chinese parents of children with cerebral palsy

We examined the factorial validity, measurement invariance, reliability, and concurrent validity across gender groups of the simplified Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (S-PSI-SF) with a group of 486 Chinese parents of children with cerebral palsy. Participants completed the S-PSI-SF and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Support. Findings based on a confirmatory factor analysis suggest that the original three-factor model was duplicated in this population, and displayed measurement invariance for both fathers and mothers. The internal reliability of the S-PSI-SF was confirmed, and composite reliability values were larger than .70. Furthermore, all subscales of the S-PSI-SF were significantly correlated with the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Support. These results show that the S-PSI-SF is a trustworthy and effective tool for evaluating parenting stress and can be used confidently with both fathers and mothers of children with cerebral palsy.