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Assessing Parenting Stress: Review of the Use and Interpretation of the Parental
Stress Scale

Article  in  The Family Journal · October 2017

DOI: 10.1177/1066480717731347

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Family Issues
The Family Journal: Counseling and
Therapy for Couples and Families
Assessing Parenting Stress: Review of the Use 2017, Vol. 25(4) 359-367
ª The Author(s) 2018
Reprints and permission:
and Interpretation of the Parental Stress Scale sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1066480717731347
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Ashley D. Louie1, Lisa D. Cromer1, and Judy O. Berry1

Abstract
Parenting stress is a cross-cultural concept and is impacted by specific family and life circumstances. Parenting stress is amplified by
challenging life situations including poverty, single parenting, and parental separation, but parenting stress is counteracted by the
inherent benefits of parenting including intrinsic feelings of warmth and love. The Parental Stress Scale (PSS) was created in 1995
to measure stress unique to parenting and captures both the joys and demands of parenting. The current study reviews two
decades of research that incorporated the PSS. We present descriptive data from published studies that all used the same
parenting stress measure and provide cross-study comparisons. The studies we review evidence diverse use of the PSS in eight
countries and PSS translation into four languages. This review is intended to aid future researchers with interpretation of relative
differences in descriptive statistics of parenting stress by providing descriptive data from different samples worldwide.

Keywords
parenting, Parental Stress Scale, parenting stress

Picture a delightful, smiling, laughing baby who at any moment Parental stress is positively correlated with child beha-
may start to cry and bring distress to any adult within earshot. vioral and developmental maladjustment; more parental stress
The parent of such a child has conflicting experiences: joy and is associated with more child problems. During a child’s
demand, pleasure and responsibility, and satisfaction and infancy, high levels of parental stress can negatively impact
stress. Mark Twain captured the essence of parenting when the quality of caregiving, which may interfere with parent–
he wrote, “A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother” (Tho- child attachment. Likewise, a baby’s sense of security is
mas, 2013). The parent’s emotional challenge persists through- impacted by parental stress, especially when the parent has
out a child’s development. As the authors of the Carnegie Task difficulty with their own emotion regulation or maintaining
Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children (1994) stated, familiar routines for the baby (Figner, Mackinlay, Wilkening,
“The challenges of parenthood are daunting, but its rewards go & Weber, 2009). Parent–child reactions can act in synchrony
to the core of what it means to be human—intimacy, growth, such that infants with a diminished sense of security display
learning, and love” (p. 25). The Parental Stress Scale (PSS) was anger or distress, consequently eliciting higher levels of par-
created with the parenting paradox at the core; the authors ental stress. From toddlerhood to adolescence, increased par-
aimed to capture both positive and negative aspects of parent- ental stress can create a chaotic family environment that
ing (Berry & Jones, 1995). Below, we review uses of the PSS contributes to children’s behavioral problems (Coldwell,
and the two decades of research on this parenting paradox. We Pike, & Dunn, 2008). Regarding emotional development,
highlight family situations that may be more susceptive to children in high-stress households may experience feelings
parenting stress and describe how these stressors can take a toll of powerlessness that result in children having low self-
on families. esteem and high anxiety (Fiese & Winter, 2010).
Parents’ life stress is also associated with poor parent–child
relationships (Berry & Jones, 1995). Family circumstances
Parental Stress
such as poverty have been found to affect child adjustment,
Parental stress is a steadily growing area of research. A review and there is evidence to suggest that this is moderated by
of the psychological literature revealed a consistent growth in
the extant literature over the past 40 years. A PsycINFO®
1
search conducted on February 15, 2013, using search terms Department of Psychology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, USA
“parent” and “stress” evidenced this growth; we depict this in
Corresponding Author:
Figure 1. The total publications for articles published in Ashley D. Louie, Department of Psychology, University of Tulsa, 800 South
English consistently increased over time: 1971–1980: 301; Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA.
1981–1990: 1,533; 1991–2000: 2,672; and 2001–2010: 4,436. Email: [email protected]
360 The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families 25(4)

5000
couple parents and have found that children thrive at least as
4,436 well as do children who are raised in homes with heterosexual
4500
4000 parents, and family stresses do not appear to be affected by
Number of Publicaons

3500 parents’ sexual orientation (Box, Know, Van Rijn-Van, &

3000 2,672
2500
Gartrell, 2016; Goldberg, 2010; Golombok et al., 2003).
2000 1533
In the United States, there are a growing number of
1500 children being parented by grandparents. Grandparenting
1000
301 can be a financial burden if grandparents are retirees; retir-
500
0 ees may be ill-prepared for the unanticipated expenses, par-
1971-1980 1981-1990 1991-2000 2001-2010 ticularly in cases such as kinship foster care (Chen, Mair,
PsycINFO® Search Results Bao, & Yang, 2015; Ehrle & Green, 2002). National survey
data have revealed that kinship foster care, which does not
Figure 1. English-language publications about parent stress over the receive financial support from social services, is more
last four decades. likely to occur in single-parent or grandparent households
in which the families are living below the poverty line
parenting stress (Conger, Ge, Elder, Lorenz, & Simons, 1994; (Ehrle & Green, 2002).
Steele et al., 2016). Daily stressors can be exacerbated by pov- Families that experience frequent transitions or separations
erty further taxing one’s emotional resources for effective par- experience a unique set of stressors. Military families and fam-
enting. For example, the stress of bills and managing finances ilies with an incarcerated parent experience myriad challenges
are greater when one is unable to pay overdue bills, work and and stresses in parenting for both the “at home” and the “away”
getting children to school is more stressful when one lacks or distal parent. For example, military parents experience high
reliable transportation, and living in high-crime neighborhoods rates of parental stress as a result of military demands including
can tax parental cognitive and emotional resources (Conger & frequent relocation (Finkel, Kelley, & Ashby, 2003; Gil-Rivas,
Donnellan, 2007), which can have a secondary negative impact Kilmer, Larson, & Armonstrong, 2017), long and unpredictable
on child development. Furthermore, life stressors can have a parental duty hours (Willerton, Schwarz, Wadsworth, &
cumulative negative effect, which can result in children who Oglesby, 2011), pressure to conform to strict behavioral stan-
are raised in poor, single-parent families being cognitive and dards (Burrell, Adams, Durand, & Castro, 2006), parental
emotional disadvantaged relative to peers who live in middle- deployment, and fears related to a deployed parent’s risk of
class families (Berk, 2013). injury or death (Ender, 2006). As a result, military children
have been found to show more internalizing (e.g., anxiousness,
depression, and withdrawal) and externalizing (e.g., aggression
Individual Differences in Parenting Stress and attentional difficulties) behaviors during parental deploy-
Family composition and family transitions are also predictive ment than their counterparts whose military parent was not
of stress levels within the family. Single parenting is associ- deployed (Chartrand, Frank, White, & Shope, 2008). Likewise,
ated with higher levels of stress than is coparenting (Waldfo- for both military and civilian families, times of family transi-
gel, Craigie, & Brooks-Gunn, 2010). Families undergoing tion or stressful situations (e.g., loss of job and marital prob-
transitions, such as two households blending into a single lems) lead to heightened parental stress that may increase
family, is stressful for adults and for children despite the family conflict and result in diminished parenting ability
typically positive circumstances under which families (Rycus & Hughes, 1998).
become blended (Hetherington, 1992; Maguire, 2015). Interestingly, research does not support the notion that par-
Responses to family composition, particularly families adjust- ental divorce negatively affects children. However, parental
ing to new stepparenting and half-sibling roles, vary by chil- conflict does negatively impact children, regardless of whether
dren’s genders, ages, and by types of blended families. parents are married and together, separated, or divorced
Mother–stepfather families are the most common form of (Strohschein, 2005). Furthermore, research suggests that
blended family. When mothers retain custody and remarry, among families with high conflict, marital disruption has a less
boys appear to adjust well, whereas girls appear to be more negative impact on children’s emotional well-being than
negatively affected by having a new stepfather (Bray, 1999; remaining in a high-conflict family (Jekielek, 1998).
Hetherington, 1992; Visher, Visher, & Pasley, 2003). In con- Individual child differences can also relate to varying lev-
trast, in heterosexual marriages, when fathers retain custody els of parenting stress. Children with difficult temperaments
following remarriage, children of both genders typically have can be challenging because they are highly reactive, less flex-
an initial negative reaction to the new arrangement ible, and do not adjust easily (Ramos, Guerin, Gottfried, Bath-
(Buchanan, Maccoby, & Dornbusch, 1996). Regardless of urst, & Oliver, 2005). Therefore, difficult children are more
gender or type of blended family arrangement, children challenging to parent. For example, it is more aversive to
school age and older tend to have more difficulty transitioning break from difficult children’s routine, and they are more
to a blended family (Hetherington & Stanley-Hagan, 1999). emotionally reactive when they are upset, thus further
Researchers have also examined families with same-sex challenging parents (Carey, 1986).
Louie et al. 361

Child characteristics also relate to parenting stress and to The PSS is brief and easy to administer. It is an 18-item self-
parenting quality. There is evidence to suggest that children report measure in which parents respond to statements about
with a difficult temperament in stressful family circumstances their typical relationship with their child. For each statement,
may be abused at higher rates than easier to manage children respondents rate their level of agreement on a 5-point Likert-
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003). When type scale (1 ¼ strongly disagree, 2 ¼ disagree, 3 ¼ undecided,
children have psychological, physical, or developmental dis- 4 ¼ agree, and 5 ¼ strongly agree). To compute the parental
abilities or special medical needs (e.g., diabetes), their families stress score, the positive Items 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, and 19 are
may be more vulnerable to stresses that can negatively affect reverse scored, and then, all items are summed. Higher scores
the quality of parenting (Berry, 2009; Dumas, Wolf, Fisman, & reflect more parental stress. The possible range of the PSS is 18
Culligan, 1991; Woodman, 2014). (low stress) to 90 (high stress).
Given the continued and growing interest in parental stress Berry and Jones (1995) reported that the scores of the scale
in the literature and its relevance to child development, it is were reliable, with a coefficient a of .83 and a mean interitem
important that researchers have reliable tools to measure par- correlation of .23. A 6-week test–retest correlation was .81. The
enting stress. The current article reviews the development and scale can be administered in pen/paper format or by computer
use of the PSS (Berry & Jones, 1995). Below, we describe the administration. The PSS has been included in two major
development of the measure and provide a summary of its use measurement books: The Handbook of Psychological Tests
in the extant literature. (Maltby, Lewis, & Hill, 2001) and Handbook of Family Mea-
surement Techniques (Touliatos, Perlmutter, & Holden, 2001).
The scale is widely used and has been readily available from
The PSS authors at no cost; it is included here in the Appendix. In the
Berry and Jones introduced the PSS in 1995. The theoretical past 5 years alone, the scale’s authors reportedly received
underpinning of the PSS was a transactional model of requests for permissions for use from 250 researchers and clin-
stress. Berry and Jones viewed parenting stress as stemming icians (J. Berry, personal communication, May 15, 2016).
from an interaction between parents and children that was a Since 2010, requests have come from 42 countries, and
result of the bidirectional process. At the time that Berry researchers have requested permission to translate the scale
and Jones introduced the PSS, a transactional model of par- into the following languages: Albanian, Bahasa Malaysia, Can-
enting stress was novel; it challenged the dominant view in tonese, Danish, Estonian, Filipino, French, German, Greek,
parenting at the time that focused on the impact of parents Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Kurdish, Lithua-
on children (Abidin, 1986). A unique contribution of Berry nian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish,
and Jones’ work was that the bidirectional theory broadened Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese (J. Berry, personal
the focus of parenting stress to emphasize the importance communication, May 15, 2016).
of the child impacting the parent and parenting stress being
a dynamic process. This bidirectional or interactional
approach has received considerable empirical support in Parenting Stress Is Cross-Cultural
ensuing years (e.g., Sroufe, Egeland, Carlson, & Collins,
The balance between the demands and rewards of parenting
2005).
appears to generalize to other cultures. Research with the PSS
The PSS continues to be a useful measure because it oper-
has been conducted by clinicians, researchers, and students
ationalizes the stress of parental experience differently than do
from around the world. It is of interest that individuals from
other measures. The PSS captures not only the demands of
diverse cultural backgrounds view the PSS as an instrument
parenting, such as opportunity costs and limitations on personal
that would be relevant and useful in their population of inter-
resources, but also the rewards of parenting such as fulfillment
est. Furthermore, few individuals asking permission to use the
and personal growth. The full-scale score allows rewards to
scale also request permission to adjust or modify the scale in
offset costs. The PSS has specificity in that it queries parenting
some minor way. By far, the most common modification
stresses irrespective of marital, financial, or other life stress
request is translation of language. Possibly, this is evidence
(Lessenberry & Rehfeldt, 2004).
that researchers, clinicians, and students from across the globe
An important characteristic of the PSS is that it was
similarly conceptualize parenting stress and see face validity
designed for use with any kind of parent. In Berry and Jones’s
in the instrument.
(1995) original article, they incorporated data collected from a
heterogeneous sample of parents. The norming samples
included mothers and fathers of typically developing children
as well as of children receiving school or outpatient services for Research Goal
emotional and/or behavioral problems. Furthermore, the PSS The current project systematically reviewed the articles pub-
successfully differentiated between clinical (mothers of chil- lished in English worldwide, which have used the PSS. The
dren receiving outpatient services for behavioral problems) and overarching goal was to provide readers with an index by
nonclinical samples (mothers of children not receiving treat- which to compare parenting stress in their unique samples
ment; Berry & Jones, 1995). to that of other published samples. We hope that this will
362 The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families 25(4)

provide a basis for interpreting relative differences and simi- were reported preintervention in a sample of parents of children
larities in parenting stress scores on the PSS across samples. aged 3–6 years with behavioral or developmental difficulties
(N ¼ 810) M ¼ 63.79 (SD ¼ 11.84; Griffin, Guerin, Sharry, &
Drumm, 2010). This mean was decreased to M ¼ 56.11 (SD ¼
Method 12.50) postintervention. The lowest average in the studies we
Literature Search reviewed was reportedly in a preintervention sample of first-
We conducted a PsycINFO and Google Scholar search using time mothers whose infants aged 6 weeks to 15 months pre-
the paired search terms “PSS” and “Berry.” Additionally, we sented with sleep disturbances (N ¼ 10) M ¼ 36.89 (SD ¼
searched PsycINFO and Google Scholar for the original PSS 11.68; Ford, 2011). Postintervention, mothers’ PSS scores were
publication (Berry & Jones, 1995) and used the forward cite reduced to M ¼ 33.67 (SD ¼ 10.48). In the same study, the
option to obtain a list of articles in the database that refer- fathers’ preintervention scores were also relatively low, M ¼
enced Berry & Jones’ 1995 article. Additional articles were 34.14 (SD ¼ 10.93) and fathers’ postintervention PSS scores
found during the article screening process, as some studies decreased to M ¼ 31.86 (SD ¼ 8.09).
identified via the original searches referenced articles not Three authors reported modifying the wording of the PSS
included in the initial search results. If those articles utilized for different sample characteristics. These articles are pre-
the PSS, they were also included. sented in chronological order in Table 2. Gerard, Landry-
Meyer, and Roe (2006) modified the PSS wording so that the
individual items reflected the degree of stress associated with
Article Screening Process grandparenting rather than with parenting. For example, the
The initial searches yielded 269 articles, which were screened item “Having children leaves little time and flexibility in my
for the following criteria: (1) the study utilized the PSS, (2) life” was modified to “Raising grandchildren leaves little time
the article was published in a peer-reviewed journal, (3) pub- and flexibility in my life.” Norizan and Shamsuddin (2010)
lications were available in English, (4) the articles reported modified the PSS by translating it into Bahasa Malaysia for
PSS descriptive data (sample means and standard deviations), administration to Malaysian mothers of children with Down
(5) if the scale was not used in its original form, the authors syndrome. Sethi, Gandhi, and Anand (2012) also translated
detailed modifications made to the scale. This screening pro- the PSS into Hindi for use in a study in which Indian parents
cess yielded 25 articles. of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Researchers then reviewed the 25 articles carefully to under- (ADHD) were compared to Indian parents of children without
stand the methodology of PSS utilization. Upon examination, a clinical diagnosis.
articles were divided into four categories: (1) did not modify Table 3 presents, in chronological order, descriptive infor-
the scale (n ¼ 13), (2) modified the wording (e.g., translated mation about the five articles that reported using a translated
into another language or changed parent to “grandparent”; n ¼ version of the PSS and which also made other alterations to
4), (3) modified the number of items (i.e., dropped 1 item; n ¼ the PSS. Cheung (2000) translated the scale into Chinese for
1), (4) modified the number of items and modified the response a study with parents in Hong Kong. Cheung reported elim-
scale (e.g., dropped 1 item and used a 4-point Likert-type scale inating Item 2 due to unexpected negative-item correlation
instead of a 5-point scale; n ¼ 3), and (5) methods section did with the rest of the scale. Cheung also stated that at the
not sufficiently describe the measure so we were unable to outset, they modified the Likert-type scale to a 4-point
determine if the authors had used it unaltered (n ¼ 4), and response choice in order to eliminate a midpoint response;
when we attempted to contact these authors, they did not their stated rationale was to compensate for a high central
respond to inquiries. tendency bias among Chinese respondents. Leung and Tsang
(2010) also utilized Cheung’s (2000) Chinese version of the
PSS. Baker, Perilla, and Norris (2001) translated the measure
Results into Spanish. During data analysis, Baker and colleagues
The current review of published studies in English-language dropped Item 2 due to a negative-item correlation with the
journals yielded studies in which the PSS was translated into scale. Baker and colleagues also modified the Likert-type
five languages and used in eight countries. Researchers have scale to a 4-point response set that ranged from 1 ¼ strongly
utilized the scale to measure parenting stress among mothers, agree to 4 ¼ strongly disagree. Oronoz, Alonso-Arbiol, and
fathers, stepparents, and foster parents, as well as to measure Balluerka (2007) translated the PSS into Spanish for use with
parenting stress associated with grandparenting. The scale parents in Spain and dropped Item 16 because the researchers
was used to measure change following individual and family reportedly believed it to be ambiguous. Letiecq, Bailey, and
interventions. Kurtz (2008) reportedly modified the wording for use with
Table 1 chronologically presents descriptive data of 13 arti- grandparents (e.g., changed child(ren) to grandchild(ren)),
cles that reportedly used the unaltered PSS and its original and during data analysis dropped 1 (unidentified) item
administration and scoring directions. Authors reported using because of a typographical error. Letiecq and colleagues also
the scale with both mothers and fathers of children in clinical used a 4-point Likert-type scale instead of the original 5-
and nonclinical populations. The highest average PSS scores point scale.
Louie et al. 363

Table 1. Descriptive Data for Articles Reportedly Using the Parental Stress Scale in Its Original Form.

Authors (Year; Country) Sample Characteristics and (Size) Mean (Standard Deviation)

Sharry, Guerin, Griffin, and Parents of children in the Parents Plus Children’s Programme Preparenting intervention ¼ 49.47
Drumm (2005; Ireland) (N ¼ 24; children were referred for developmental delay, (6.48)
pervasive developmental disorder, attentional difficulties, speech Postparenting intervention ¼ 43.73
and language delays, behavioral problems, emotional difficulties, (5.44)
and neurodevelopmental or medical difficulties) 5 Month follow-up ¼ 43.80 (5.89)

Les Caldwell, Horne, Davidson, Parents of first-time juvenile offenders who completed a Family Prefamily intervention ¼ 40.58 (10.58)
and Quinn (2007; USA) Solutions Program (N ¼ 105; “parents” included mothers, fathers, Postfamily intervention ¼ 40.03 (11.06)
stepmothers/fathers, foster mothers/fathers, and grandmothers/
fathers)
Coughlin, Sharry, Fitzpatrick, Parents of children aged 6–11 with behavioral and developmental Preparenting intervention ¼ 47.76
Guerin, and Drumm (2009; problems (N ¼ 42) (10.14)
Ireland) Postparenting intervention ¼ 43.07
(8.53)
West et al. (2009; USA) Parents of a child with pediatric bipolar (N ¼ 26) in a group Pretreatment ¼ 49.13 (12.29)
adaptation of child- and family-focused cognitive behavior therapy Posttreatment ¼ 45.31 (14.75)
for pediatric bipolar disorder
Winston, Dunbar, Reed, and Mothers of babies (12–36 months) developing typically (TD; n ¼ 34) TD ¼ 36.79 (7.32)
Francis-Connolly (2010; and with feeding concerns (FC; n ¼ 29) FC ¼ 37.45 (9.69)
Canada)
Browne et al. (2010; Canada) Parents in Children’s Aid Societies (N ¼ 135) 35.99 (9.33)
Griffin, Guerin, Sharry, and Parents of children aged 3–6 years with behavioral or developmental Preparenting intervention ¼ 63.79
Drumm (2010; Ireland) difficulties (N ¼ 810) (11.84)
Postparenting intervention ¼ 56.11
(12.50)

Vidyasagar and Koshy (2010; Mothers of children with autism (CWA; n ¼ 25) and mothers of CWA ¼ 44.56 (9.05)
India) normal children (NC; n ¼ 30) NC ¼ 36.30 (6.21)

Shapiro and Stewart (2011; Biological mothers (BM; n ¼ 60) and stepmothers (SM; n ¼ 75) BM ¼ 38.81 (9.38)
USA) SM ¼ 50.89 (13.55)

Fernandes, Muller, and Rodin Parents with leukemia or lymphoma and a minor child living at home 35.18 (9.10)
(2012; Canada) (N ¼ 65)
Everson, Darline, and Herzog Spouses of soldiers deployed to Iraq (N ¼ 200) 35.80 (8.67)
(2012; USA)
Ford (2011; Australia) Mothers (M) and fathers (F) of a first-born infant aged 6 weeks Preinfant sleep intervention M ¼ 36.89
to15 months with sleep disturbance (N ¼ 10) (11.68)
Preinfant sleep intervention F ¼ 34.14
(10.93)
Postinfant sleep intervention M ¼ 33.67
(10.48)
Postinfant sleep intervention F ¼ 31.86
(8.09)

Louie and Cromer (2014; USA) Military fathers with a child aged 6 years or younger during their Fathers who reported child-focused
most recent deployment (N ¼ 30) predeployment preparation ¼
30.21(6.57)
Fathers who reported no child-focused
predeployment preparation ¼ 35.82
(8.05)

Discussion poverty, single parenting, or parental separation is known to

increase stress within the family and to exacerbate the stress
Parenting stress, or stress that is uniquely attributed to par-
felt by the primary caregiver. In contrast, parenting stress can
enting, is a cross-cultural concept. Past research has evi-
be offset with inherent benefits of parenting including intrin-
denced that myriad family and life circumstances can
sic feelings of warmth and love as well as personal growth
amplify or decrease stress for family situations. For example,
(Berry & Jones, 1995).
364 The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families 25(4)

Table 2. Descriptive Data for Articles Reportedly Modifying Only the Parental Stress Scale Wording.

Authors (Year; Country) Sample Characteristics and (Size) Mean (Standard Deviation) Modifications

Gerard, Landry-Meyer, Grandparents with primary responsibility for their 41.48 (11.14) Changed “child” to
and Roe (2006; USA) grandchildren (N ¼ 133) “grandchild”

Norizan and Shamsuddin Mothers of children ages 2–12 years with Down Syndrome 37.60 (8.10) Translated the scale
(2010; Malaysia) (N ¼147) into Bahasa Malaysia
Sethi, Gandhi, and Anand Parents of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity ADHD ¼ 52.98 (10.34) Translated the scale in
(2012; India) disorder (ADHD; n ¼ 50) and parents of healthy children HC ¼ 36.68 (6.22) to Hindi
(HC; n ¼ 50) in India

Table 3. Descriptive Data for Articles Reporting Multiple Modifications to the PSS including Translations.

Authors (Year; Country) Sample Characteristics (Size) Mean (Standard Deviation) Modifications and Reasoning

Cheung (2000; Hong Parents of adjusted children (AC; n ¼ AC ¼ 48.79 (11.56) Translated the scale to Chinese for use in
Kong) 137) and maladjusted children (MC; MC ¼ 57.63 (11.56) Hong Kong
n ¼ 120) under the age of 12 in Hong Dropped Item 2 in analyses because of poor
Kong item correlation
Used 6-point Likert-type scale to address the
high central tendency bias among Chinese
respondents

Baker, Perilla, and Norris Immigrant Latino couples (Latino men Men ¼ 30.78 (.37) Translated to Spanish for Latino participants.
(2001; USA) who batter; n ¼ 43) Women ¼ 35.10 (.44) Deleted Item 2, computed mean for scale
(transformed here), used 1- to 4-point
Likert-type scale with 1 ¼ high stress and 4
¼ low stress (reversed)

Oronoz, Alonso-Arbiol, First-time parents with an infant 3–8 Males ¼ 20.3 (4.7) Translated to Spanish for use in Spain.
and Balluerka (2007; months (n ¼ 211) Females ¼ 22.3 (6.0) Deleted Item 16 a priori; researchers found it
Spain) “vague and ambiguous”

Letiecq, Bailey, and Kurtz Rural Native American (NA; n ¼ 19) NA ¼ 29.4 (9.3) Modified wording to be appropriate for use
(2008; USA) and European American (EA; n ¼ 36) EA ¼ 29.3 (7.8) with grandparents (i.e., child changed to
grandparent caregivers grandchild)
Dropped one (unidentified) item because of a
typing error.
Used a 4-point Likert-type scale with 1 ¼
strongly disagree and 4 ¼ strongly agree
(higher scores reflect higher stress levels)

Leung and Tsang (2010; Used Chinese version of PSS (Cheung, 2000)
Hong Kong)
Note. PSS ¼ Parental Stress Scale.

The current investigation brings together data on parenting Kong (Cheung, 2000) and Spanish samples (Oronoz, Alonso-
stress from many cultures and diverse samples. We present Arbiol, & Balluerka, 2007). The PSS has been used with
descriptive statistics of parenting stress from published stud- samples that are diverse in parental respondents. This diver-
ies that all used the same parenting stress measure, in order to sity includes gender, generation, ethnicity, country of origin
provide cross-study comparisons. Published studies in and country of residence, and language in which the measure
English-language journals evidence use of the PSS in eight is completed. These samples also include parents of diverse
countries and translation from English into four languages; children including children with and without ADHD, physical
requests for permissions for the measure evidence its use in a disabilities, behavioral problems, and clinical levels of
total of 42 countries and translation into an additional 22 psychopathology.
languages. Further, researchers have validated the scale and We provided a review of the published data of the PSS in
published the scale’s psychometric properties with both Hong order to aid future researchers with interpretation of relative
Louie et al. 365

differences in descriptive statistics of parenting stress across a 1. I am happy in my role as a parent.

variety of different samples worldwide. The published litera- 2. There is little or nothing I wouldn’t do for my chil-
ture also demonstrates that the PSS has some sensitivity to d(ren) if it was necessary.
clinical change. Five of the studies we reviewed evidenced 3. Caring for my child(ren) sometimes takes more time
changes in parenting stress pre-and postintervention. and energy than I have to give.
4. I sometimes worry whether I am doing enough for my
child(ren).
5. I feel close to my child(ren).
Implications
6. I enjoy spending time with my child(ren).
The current study has broad implications. The information 7. My child(ren) is (are) an important source of affection
contained in this article will allow researchers and clinicians for me.
who are interested in measuring parental stress to make com- 8. Having children gives me a more certain and optimistic
parisons to a diverse group of peer-reviewed, published data. view for the future.
Furthermore, although it appears that parental stress is cross- 9. The major source of stress in my life is my child(ren).
cultural, some modifications were made by researchers a priori 10. Having children leaves little time and flexibility in my
and during data analysis to accommodate perceived sample life.
differences. The current study allows researchers and clinicians 11. Having children has been a financial burden.
who are interested in using the scale to better understand how 12. It is difficult to balance different responsibilities
other researchers have modified the scale and why. because of my child(ren).
13. The behavior of my child(ren) is often embarrassing or
stressful to me.
14. If I had it to do over again, I might decide not to have
Limitations and Future Directions
children.
The current study is limited in that descriptive data for rela- 15. I feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of being a
tive comparisons across studies are not as definitive for inter- parent.
pretation as would be predictive norms or clinical cutoff 16. Having children has meant having too few choices and
levels. Given that Item 2 appears to be psychometrically dif- too little control over my life.
ficult in some samples and in translations, future studies on 17. I am satisfied as a parent.
the psychometric properties may consider either changing the 18. I find my child(ren) enjoyable.
wording of this item so that it is unambiguous, possibly To compute the parental stress score, Items 1,2, 5, 6, 7, 8,
changing “There is little or nothing I wouldn’t do for my 17, and 18 should be reverse scored as follows: (1 ¼ 5), (2 ¼ 4),
child(ren) if it was necessary” to “There is little or nothing I (3 ¼ 3), (4 ¼ 2), and (5 ¼ 1). The item scores are then summed.
wouldn’t do for my child(ren) if it was necessary for their
health or survival” so that the meaning translates more readily Declaration of Conflicting Interests
across cultures. We hope that in the future, large-scale studies The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to
will be conducted to provide parenting stress norms in order to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
better inform researchers and service providers about when
parents may benefit from additional support in order to keep Funding
parenting stress in a typical range. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, author-
ship, and/or publication of this article.

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