Further Psychometric Properties of the Mother's Activity Checklist.

Abstract

The present study attempted to extend the results obtained by Kelley and Carper (1988) regarding the psychometric properties of the Mother's Activity Checklist utilizing a larger, more heterogeneous sample of mothers. The MAC is a 100-item checklist of pleasant and unpleasant setting events which mothers frequently experience. A revised version of the MAC consisting of 45 items was developed utilizing factor analysis procedures. The revised version consists of four factors: Pleasant Events, Unpleasant Events, Aversive Child Behavior, and Aversive Marital Events. Utilizing a sample of eight hundred and thirty-three mothers with children between the ages of 2 and 12, both the original 100-item MAC and the 45-item MAC were found to be highly internally consistent. Both original and revised MAC scores also were found to be excellent discriminators between clinical and nonclinical mothers. Relationships were also examined between MAC scores and measures of maternal depression, child behavior problems, marital adjustment, and major life stressors. Pleasant events scores were most closely related to maternal depression and marital adjustment with unpleasant events scores being correlated with maternal depression, child behavior problems, marital adjustment and major life stressors. Results suggest that the 100-item and 45-item MAC are equivalent across statistical procedures. The revised version is therefore recommended as more efficient measure of maternal pleasant and unpleasant events.