Description: The Adult-Adolescent
Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2) is a 40-item questionnaire used
to assess the parenting attitudes and child rearing practices
of adolescents and adults. The purpose of the inventory is
to determine the degree to which respondents agree or disagree
with parenting behaviors and attitudes known to contribute
to child abuse and neglect. Responses are given on a five-point
Likert scale ranging from Strongly Agree, Agree, Uncertain,
Disagree, to Strongly Disagree. Responses provide a standard
for risk in five parenting constructs known to contribute
to the maltreatment of children: (1) inappropriate parental
expectations, (2) inability to demonstrate empathy towards
children’s needs, (3) strong belief in the use of corporal
punishment, (4) reversing parent-child family roles, and (5)
oppressing children’s power and independence. The AAPI-2
comes in two alternate forms—A and B—to reduce
the practice effect when repeating the inventory in a short
time period.
Uses of Information: Responses
to the AAPI-2 permit the identification of high-risk child
rearing and parenting practices that could lead to physical
or emotional abuse or neglect of children. In addition, the
AAPI-2 is used to (1) provide pretest and posttest data to
measure treatment effectiveness, (2) assess the parenting
and child rearing attitudes of parents and adolescents prior
to parenthood, (3) design specific treatment and intervention
parenting education programs, (4) design nurturing experiences
for parents and adolescents whose attitudes indicate a high
risk for child maltreatment, and (5) screen foster parent
applicants, child care staff, and volunteers for education
and training purposes.
Reliability: (1) Internal reliability:
Reliability coefficients for the five parenting constructs
using the Spearman-Brown formula ranged from .83 to .93 on
Form A, .80 to .93 on Form B, and .87 to .96 on Forms A and
B combined. The Cronbach alphas ranged from .80 to .92 on
both Forms A and B and .86 to .96 on Forms A and B combined.
Validity: (1) Content validity:
Statements made by parents about children formed the basis
of the inventory items. Professionals in the helping fields
assigned items to one of the five parenting constructs and
assessed items’ suitability for a Likert scale. (2)
Construct validity: The authors provide factor analysis results
that provide evidence for five underlying factors. (3) Criterion-related
validity: A comparison between a group of abusive parents
and a group of non-abusive parents (1,985 total sample size)
found that abusive parents had mean scores on each of the
parenting constructs that were statistically significantly
lower than non-abusive parents. In general, males were also
found to have lower scores than females, but there was no
parenting-gender interaction effect. The authors provide evidence
that the AAPI-2 discriminates between abusive and non-abusive
parents in samples of adults and in sample of adolescents.
Method of Scoring: Scoring is completed by placing a stencil
over the test items and recording the numerical value of each
response (1-5 points). The numerical values are recorded on
the profile worksheet for each of the five subscales. The
values are summed to obtain the subscale total raw score.
The AAPI-2 worksheet and table of norms located in the Handbook
convert total raw scores to standard scores for developing
a risk profile on the worksheet. The respondent’s attitudes
in each of the five sub-scales can be compared with the parenting
and child rearing attitudes of parents or adolescents. Tables
convert raw scores to standard ten (sten) scores by gender
(male or female), parental status (parents or non-parents),
and age (adults or adolescents).
Interpretability: The standard scores are plotted on the
AAPI Parenting Profile, which provides an index of risk for
abusive and/or neglecting behaviors. The sten scores on the
Profile sheet range from 1 to 10. Low sten scores (1 to 4)
generally indicate a high risk for practicing known abusive
parenting practices; mid-range scores (4 to 7) represent the
parenting attitudes of the general population; and high sten
scores (7 to 10) indicate the expressed parenting attitudes
reflect a nurturing, non-abusive parenting philosophy. The
manual provides instructions for interpreting the scale’s
total score and the subscale scores.
Training Support: Training workshops and training assistance
is available. Call 828-681-8120 or send an email to fnc@nurturingparenting.com
Adaptations/Special Instructions for Individuals with Disabilities:
The assessment can be administered orally to non-readers.
Report Preparation Support: None described beyond the profiles.
References:
Bavolek, Stephen J. and Richard G. Keene. Adult-Adolescent
Parenting Inventory AAPI-2 Administration and Development
Handbook. Park City, UT: Family Development Resources, Inc.,
1999.
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