Psychometric Properties of the Parental Distress Subscale

Using data from the Fragile Family Child Wellbeing Study, we examined the psychometric properties of the parental distress subscale of the parenting stress index—short form. Unlike previous studies, we found that the two-factor model did not fit the data significantly better than the one-factor model. Moreover, the results indicated that both the one-factor and the two-factor models provided only a marginal fit to the data. This finding was consistent across two time periods. Implications of these findings and future research are discussed.