In an investigation of childhood psychological deviance, we used a brief interview, the Social Stress and Support Interview of Jenkins and her collogues (1981), to measure the stress and support experienced subjectively by parents in a number of social and interpersonal domains. The reliability — based on subject-rater and inter questionnaire agreement — consistency and external validity were found to be acceptable. A 4-point method of scoring was used, but for measuring support the reliability was increased when the scoring was converted to a 2-point scale. Using this reduced scale, the questionnaire provided measurements which were significantly associated with psychological deviance in children aged 7–12 years of age, and with psychiatric distress in their parents.