The development and initial validation of the Immigrant Parental Stress Inventory (IPSI) in a sample of Korean immigrant parents

Abstract

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Immigrant Parental Stress Inventory (IPSI), with which social service professionals working with immigrant families can easily assess stress experienced by immigrant parents within their two distinctively different language and cultural contexts. Method The IPSI was theoretically developed, refined through expert interviews and a pilot test, and empirically validated with a sample of 366 Korean immigrant parents. Results The exploratory factor analysis revealed that the IPSI has two subscales: Immigrant Life Stress and Parent–Child Acculturative Gap Stress. The total IPSI and its two subscales showed good reliability. In addition, construct validity was supported through a series of discriminant analyses and correlation analyses. Conclusion The IPSI was shown to be a psychometrically sound instrument that is capable of measuring immigrant parental stress. Social service professionals and researchers studying or working with immigrant families could use the IPSI to examine immigrant parental stress. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research were suggested based on the findings of this study.