Quick Parenting Assessment (QPA): Validation Replication and Extension of a Novel Screening Tool to Support Parents

Background: Some parenting behaviors (e.g. spanking) are Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and are associated with childhood behavior problems. Brief validated parenting assessment tools could improve clinical practice by giving professionals an objective picture of exposure to unhealthy parenting. The Quick Parenting Assessment (QPA), holds promise; however, there is only one validation study of this instrument. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to add additional evidence related to QPA’s reliability and validity, and to identify clinically meaningful QPA values to help professionals determine the appropriate level of parenting support.

Methods: Data were collected as part of a long-term, follow-up study assessing the effectiveness of two brief parenting programs. Eligible participants were adult, female, English-speaking primary caregivers of at least one child between 2-7 years old recruited (N=354) from Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinics in New Orleans, LA. QPA is a 12- item scale with dichotomous responses (range: 0-12). Higher scores indicate harsher parenting practices and therefore an increased risk for children to exhibit behavioral problems. Unconstrained Principal Factor Analysis (PFA) with oblique rotation was conducted to assess the measurement properties of the QPA scale. Pearson correlations were computed between the QPA and the following measures: Attitude Toward Spanking (ATS), corporal punishment (CP) use, Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL), Parenting and Family Adjustment Scale (PFAS), and Child Adjustment and Parent Efficacy scale (CAPES). Cronbach alpha and test-retest reliability were also assessed. Lastly, Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) Curve analysis was used to identify meaningful QPA cut-off points.

Results: Our results suggest that QPA scale can be reduced to six items, and both original length QPA (Cronbach’s alpha = .74; test-retest r = .67***) and reduced-item QPA demonstrated adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .71; test-retest r = .66***) and validity. Validity testing showed that higher QPA scores were associated with higher ATS scores and more frequent CP use. Parents with QPA scores >= 3 have six-times higher odds of endorsing CP than those with scores of <3 (OR=6.2, 95% CI= 3.5, 10.9). QPA scores also were negatively associated with PFAS and positively associated with CAPES (r = .22***) and CBCL (r = .30**). Children of parents with QPA scores >= 4 had odds of behavioral problems that were 2.9 times higher than the odds for those with caregiver scores of <4 (OR=2.9, 95% CI= 1.5, 5.3).

Implications:The QPA has promising psychometric properties, including a reduced six-item QPA . Professionals who see children with behavior problems could consider using the QPA to detect unhealthy parenting strategies. If the QPA is elevated, part of the treatment plan would be parent training. Our study findings have implications for improving clinical practice and taking a population-based approach to preventing child physical abuse and mitigating ACEs.