The Parental Comparison Level Index: A Measure for Assessing Parental Rewards and Costs Relative to Expectations

Abstract

This article presents rationale for and initial findings concerning development of Parental Comparison Level Index (PCLI). The necessity for development of a new method for assessing experience of parenthood is based on conceptual limitations within extant research. The PCLI is based on interpersonal processes highlighted by social exchange perspectives, with a particular focus on role that expectations and comparative processes play in evaluation of relationships. Data collected on 439 parents (169 fathers and 270 mothers) offer strong support that PCLI contains two highly reliable subscales: reward and cost. The data also provide evidence for validity of subscales because they covary in expected ways with two measures of marital quality and variations in life cycle. Key Words: measurement, parental costs, parental rewards, parental satisfaction, parenthood, social exchange theory. Widespread changes in structural characteristics of contemporary American families have encouraged social scientists to rethink the family as a social form, to debate characteristics and qualities of functional families, and to work to dispel myths and monolithic view of contemporary life (e.g., Bernardes, 1993; Cheal, 1993; David, 1993). In spite of all attention to complexity and diversity found within families, relatively little research exists that makes experiences of contemporary parents unit of analysis (Goetting, 1986; Rossi, 1968). What research there is has been criticized for employing measures that lack an adequate conceptual or psychometric foundation (Goetting, 1986; Sabatelli & Waldron, 1995). Although it has been almost 30 years since Rossi (1968) called for research on concepts like parental satisfaction, it is clear that there has been a lag in efforts to develop theoretically grounded and psychometrically sound measures of concepts that provide insight into experience of parenthood. This article discusses development of a new measure designed to assess parents' satisfaction with parenthood. The scale, Parental Comparison Level Index (PCLI), is based on interpersonal processes highlighted within social exchange framework, with a particular focus on role that expectations and comparative processes play in evaluation of relationships (Nye, 1979; Sabatelli, 1984, 1988; Thibaut K Sabatelli & Waldron, 1995). Both of these reviews revealed that efforts to obtain direct information about how parents perceive one of most important roles of adult life were complicated by absence of conceptually grounded measures of parental satisfaction construct. For example, in many of studies focusing on parental satisfaction, this complex construct is not defined (Bird & Bird, 1984; James, Schumm, Kennedy, Grigsby, & Shectman, 1985; Risman, 1986) or only nominally defined (e.g., Buehler, Hogan, Robinson, & Levy, 1985/1986; Lerner & Galambos, 1985). This absence of conceptual precision results in a number of different operational indicators being used to assess parental satisfaction. In some studies, parental satisfaction is assessed by asking questions about respondent's happiness with their children and their views on quality of relationship they have with their children (Bowen, 1982; Chilman, 1979). Other studies ask parents about burdens they experience as parents (Goldsteen & Ross, 1989; Pittman & Lloyd, 1988, Pittman, Wright, & Lloyd, 1989). Still other studies infer presence of parental satisfaction by simply asking parents if they believe that parenting is important (Chilman, 1980). Each of these conceptual approaches to assessment of parental satisfaction provides only a limited perspective on how this role is experienced because each one fails to tap a theoretically grounded and inclusive conceptualization of satisfaction. …