Longitudinal psychometric evaluation of the developmental disorder parenting stressor index with Japanese parents of children with autism.
The 25-item DD-PSI is a quick, stable way to track both stress events and parent thoughts in autism families over time.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Yamane (2021) tracked the same Japanese parents of children with autism over time. The team wanted to know if the 25-item Developmental Disorder Parenting Stressor Index (DD-PSI) gives steady scores when life changes.
Parents answered the short survey at two points. Researchers checked if the numbers stayed reliable and if the questions still measured the same two things: stressful events and how parents think about them.
What they found
The DD-PSI held up well. It kept good internal consistency and the same two-factor shape across time.
In plain words, the brief tool gives a stable picture of both what stressful things happen and how parents judge those things.
How this fits with other research
Tavassoli et al. (2012) built the first autism-only stress scale, the APSI. Yamane (2021) widens the lens. The DD-PSI keeps the autism focus but adds cognitive appraisal and works across child ages, not just young kids.
Honey et al. (2005) showed the older 31-item QRS-F works for preschool autism parents. The new 25-item DD-PSI is even shorter and still covers school-age kids, giving you a quicker option.
Boxum et al. (2018) validated the 27-item PAFAS for broad family adjustment. Takahiro’s tool is slimmer and zeros-in on stress events and thoughts, so you can pair both scales without tiring families.
Why it matters
You now have a 5-minute, free scale that stays reliable across months. Use it during re-assessments or before treatment reviews to spot rising stress early. Because it splits events from thoughts, you can see if parent coaching needs to target daily hassles, mindset, or both.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Parents of children with autism experience high rates of parenting stress. Assessing parenting stress in them has crucial clinical implications because increased parental stress is associated with psychological disorders and personal distress, which can result in worse child-parent relationships. Theorists have proposed that a person's cognitive appraisal determines whether or not a situation or an encounter is personally stressful. However, prior scales merely measure the outcomes of parental stress as a stress response: little the scales were designed to assess events and cognitive appraisal-related parenting stressors of parents of children with autism. We investigated whether a new index for assessing parenting stressors-the Developmental Disorder Parenting Stressor Index is a valid measure to assess parenting stressors of parents of children with autism using longitudinal online surveys at three times. Participants were 212 Japanese parents of children with autism aged 2-18 years who completed the Developmental Disorder Parenting Stressor Index and measures of autism symptoms and stress response . Overall, the findings indicated that the Developmental Disorder Parenting Stressor Index can be reliably used to measure both experiences and cognitive appraisal of parenting stressors among parents of children with autism. Moreover, the Developmental Disorder Parenting Stressor Index has several advantages and is a valuable measurement tool to be able to evaluate parenting stressors in clinical settings; Developmental Disorder Parenting Stressor Index is shorter, easier to complete, and can evaluate both viewpoints of parenting stressors.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2021 · doi:10.1177/13623613211009349