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- Parenting Alliance Inventory: psychometric properties and invariance among a community and at-risk sample of Portuguese parentsPublication . Nunes, Cristina; Ayala-Nunes, Lara; Martins, Cátia; Pechorro, Pedro; Ferreira, Laura InêsThe existing alliance between the two caregivers is a key dimension for understanding the family context, as it affects parental behavior and children's development. The assessment of this construct becomes even more pressing in at-risk families, where the children's well-being may be compromised and where the parental alliance may serve as a protective factor. The Parental Alliance Inventory (PAI) is a self-report measure that assesses the parental alliance and the relationship of support and trust that exists between both parents. In this study, we intended to explore the psychometric properties of PAI in the Portuguese population, including normative and at-risk families. Participants were community parents (n = 205, M = 38.38 years; 52.2% women) and parents of Child Welfare Services (CWS) referred children (n = 273, M = 37.05 years, 82.05% women). Both samples completed the PAI and measures of parenting sense of competence, parenting stress, and marital satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the proposed original unidimensional structure of the PAI. The instrument showed good psychometric properties, presenting levels of internal consistency and a quite satisfactory reliability. Findings also showed that PAI was measurement invariant across the two subsamples. Our findings provide evidence for psychometric soundness of the PAI and support its usefulness for the European Portuguese context.
- Parenting sense of competence: Psychometrics and invariance among a community and an At-Risk Samples of Portuguese ParentsPublication . Nunes, Cristina; Ayala-Nunes, Lara; Ferreira, Laura Inês; Pechorro, Pedro; Freitas, Délia; Martins, Cátia; Santos, RitaParenting sense of competence (PSC) is a cognitive and emotional construct that refers to the judgments that parents hold about their abilities as caregivers. It also includes parents’ beliefs about their capacity to positively influence their children’s development and their satisfaction with the parenting role [1–3]. This construct has been widely studied and is a relevant dimension for the assessment and understanding of family dynamics. Parenting sense of competence has been associated to several family dimensions, such as marital relationship and family functioning [2,4,5]. For instance, mothers’ sense of competence has been positively linked to coparenting support [6], and a reciprocal relationship between perceived parental competence and marital stress over a 6-year interval has been reported for both mothers and fathers [7]. It is especially important to assess this construct in families who are at psychosocial risk [8–12]—i.e., families that have difficulties in adequately meeting children’s needs but not severely enough to require children’s placement in foster care [13]. This is because research has suggested indirect relationships between PSC and potential for child abuse [14] and maltreatment [15]. Similarly, PSC is thought to be a protective factor for negative outcomes, buffering the impact of risk factors such as maternal depression, children’s difficult temperament, and disadvantaged environments [16,17].