Parenting – Primary Caregiver

Adapted from the Parental Discipline Scale and Parent Praise (Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber, van Kammen & Farrington, 1991 and Thornberry, Huizinga, & Loeber, 1995). The Parental Discipline Scale is a revised version of the Discipline Scale. The Parent Praise scale is from the Positive Parenting Scale. Both are from the Pittsburgh Youth Study, The Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.

Abstract: Parenting-Primary Caregiver incorporates two scales, the Parental Discipline Scale (first 8 items) and Parent Praise (last 9 items). This 8-item scale provides parent report of the frequency of 8 different disciplinary strategies for the infraction of family rules. The 9-item scale provides a parent report on the frequency with which parents provide positive praise and support when their children do something that they like or approve of. All items are rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always). Two different methods for scaling will be presented. The primary scaling procedure was derived from exploratory factor analyses on the Normative sample, conducted separately for the Discipline & Praise items. A more detailed discussion of the primary scaling procedure can be found in the addendum. The alternate scaling was constructed to closely parallel the algorithms used by Loeber and his colleagues in the Pittsburgh Youth Study's "Positive Parenting/Low Reinforcement" construct. It includes items from both the parent and youth versions of this measure, both combined and in separate scales. Although our alternate scale comprises the same items as their scale, our measure uses a 5-point scale, whereas theirs utilized a 3-point scale. Each scale score is derived from the mean of the items that compose it, with the exception of Low Reinforcement, which is the sum of the means of the parent and youth reports. This measure was scaled so as to create identical scales as those generated by the youth's report on the About My Parent measure. Note that this scaling is different from what was used in the original Technical Report written by McMahon, Jones, & Kim (1997). The current scales are preferred because they are more specific. Although Item 8 ("Tell your child to get out or lock him/her out of the house for a while") has low variability, it was retained in the Harsh Discipline scale due to its consistency with more punitive forms of discipline.

Who Completed this Measure?: Parent

Cohort 1 - Administrative History

  • Year 05 | grade 4 | age 10
  • Year 06 | grade 5 | age 11
  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14

Cohort 2 - Administrative History

  • Year 05 | grade 4 | age 10
  • Year 06 | grade 5 | age 11
  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14

Cohort 3 - Administrative History

  • Year 05 | grade 4 | age 10
  • Year 06 | grade 5 | age 11
  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14

Technical Reports:

Raw Dataset Name: PyX

Scored Dataset Name: PPCySPc

Keywords:
Communication, Discipline, Empathy, Parent Child Relationship, Positive Parenting, Punishment, Rewards

Is this Measure Available for Public Use?: Yes

Obtain Measure:
Download the measure here

SAS Code for Scale Creation:
Download the code here

Measure Items and Scales:

site Study Site
tcid Study ID Number
COHORT Cohort
SITECODE Sitecode
INTID Interviewer ID Number
RESPOND Respondent
P9ABP1 Dislike Behavior-Take Away Privilege
P9ABP2 Dislike Behavior-Time Out
P9ABP3 Dislike Behavior-Scold
P9ABP4 Dislike Behavior-Discuss
P9ABP5 Dislike Behavior-Ignore
P9ABP6 Dislike Behavior-Spank
P9ABP7 Dislike Behavior-Hit
P9ABP8 Dislike Behavior-Lock out
P9ABP9 Like Behavior-Ignore
P9ABP10 Like Behavior-Smile
P9ABP11 Like Behavior-Praise
P9ABP12 Like Behavior-Physical Affection
P9ABP13 Like Behavior-Reward
P9ABP14 Like Behavior-Special Privilege
P9ABP15 Like Behavior-Do Something Special
P9ABP16 Like Behavior-Tell Someone
P9ABP17 Like Behavior-Question
p9abp10r Reversed-Like Behavior-Smile
p9abp11r Reversed-Like Behavior-Praise
p9abp12r Reversed-Like Behavior-Physical Affection
p9abp13r Reversed-Like Behavior-Reward
p9abp14r Reversed-Like Behavior-Special Privilege
p9abp15r Reversed-Like Behavior-Do Something Special
p9abp16r Reversed-Like Behavior-Tell Someone
C9AKP1 Take away privilege
C9AKP2 Send to room/Time out
C9AKP3 Yell or scold
C9AKP4 Calmly discuss misbehavior
C9AKP5 Ignore misbehavior
C9AKP6 Spank
C9AKP7 Slap or hit
C9AKP8 Lock out of home
C9AKP9 Ignore good behavior
C9AKP10 Smile or wink
C9AKP11 Praise
C9AKP12 Physical affection
C9AKP13 Reward
C9AKP14 Give special privilege
C9AKP15 Do something special
C9AKP16 Tell someone
C9AKP17 Ask why not always good
c9akp10r Reversed-Smile or wink
c9akp11r Reversed-Praise
c9akp12r Reversed-Physical affection
c9akp13r Reversed-Reward
c9akp14r Reversed-Give special privilege
c9akp15r Reversed-Do something special
c9akp16r Reversed-Tell someone
PPC9apd Appropriate Discipline- PPC Y9
PPC9had Harsh Discipline- PPC Y9
PPC9pat Positive Attention- PPC Y9
PPC9trw Tangible Rewards- PPC Y9
PPC9lry Low Reinforcement-Youth- PPC Y9
PPC9lrp Low Reinforcement-Parent- PPC Y9
ppc9lrc Low Reinforcement-Combined- PPC Y9