A new look at parenting through the cultural context: Development and initial psychometric evidence of the Interculturally Sensitive Parenting Scale (ISPAS)

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the measurement characteristics of a newly developed scale to assess interculturally sensitive parenting for mothers and fathers of children and adolescents ranging from 4 to 18 years of age. The development of the Interculturally Sensitive Parenting Scale (ISPAS) ended up with five separate samples, with a total of 1522 parents (884 mothers and 638 fathers), in a five-step process. In the first phase, we generated a pool with 28 items and received input from content experts (n = 5) and cognitive interviews (n = 10), resulting in 23 items. In Study 2 (n = 602), which included inter-item and item-total correlations, eigenvalues, exploratory factor analysis, scree plots, and parallel analysis, six more items were excluded from the item pool, resulting in a one-dimensional construct with 17 items. In Study 3 (n = 607), along with parenting role (mother and father) invariance, confirmatory factor analysis supported the single-factor construct with 17 items, with excellent internal consistency with a high Cronbach's alpha. In Study 4 (n = 303), the analyses indicated that the ISPAS with a one-dimensional construct had good discriminant and convergent validity. Lastly, the 4-week test-retest reliability analysis of the ISPAS in Study 5 (n = 204) supported the stability of the measure. Taken together, the findings validated the usage of the 17-item ISPAS in reliably assessing mothers' and fathers' interculturally sensitive parenting. We hope academics from different disciplines, practitioners, mental health professionals, and educators will benefit from the assessment of the ISPAS presented in this study.