Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents SIPA Peter

Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA) Peter Sheras, Ph. D Richard Abidin, Ed. D Timothy Konold, Ph. D

OUTLINE • Why study parenting stress? • Understanding why parenting teens is so difficult • How to assess the stress experienced by parents • Planning interventions

Why Study Parenting Stress? • Stressed parents make for stressed kids • Better communication between parent and child is useful in many ways to students, families, and schools • It is important to know if a parent experiences the child in the same way as the school does • Stressed parents make poor partners with therapists and schools • Understanding the origins of parent stress can help the school or therapist direct interventions toward students, families, or individuals

A Model of Parenting Stress • • • The concept of perceived stress Perceived characteristics of the adolescent Characteristics of the parent or parenting unit Quality of communication between parent and child External life stress events Total stress experienced by parents influencing their parenting behaviors

Models of Parenting Stress: Adolescent Characteristics • • Difficulties surrounding interactions with teenagers include the following: Adolescent’s increased power Broader group of significant individuals in adolescent’s interpersonal life Financial drain associated with adolescent’s needs Potential for serious social incompetence or misbehavior

Models of Parenting Stress: Parent Characteristics Self-esteem Degree of investment in parenting Personality and neuroticism Mood Parental beliefs, expectations, and feelings about child rearing • Parent’s affective states (depression, anxiety, and aggression) • • •

Adolescent Domain Adolescent. Parent Relationship Domain Parenting Behavior

Adolescent Domain • Moodiness/emotional lability (MEL) • Social Isolation/Withdrawal (ISO) • Delinquency/Antisocial (DEL) • Failure to achieve or persevere (ACH)

Parent Domain • Life restrictions (LFR) • Relationship with Spouse/Partner (REL) • Social Alienation (SOC) • Incompetence/guilt (INC)

Other Domains • Adolescent-Parent Relationships Domain (APRD) • Life Stressors (LS) • Total Parenting Stress (TS)

Structure of SIPA • 112 SIPA items (Including 22 Life Stress items) • Takes approximately 20 minutes for parent to complete • Use with parents of adolescents 11 -19 years Utilizes 5 point response format 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree Strongly disagree

SIPA Interpretive Categories and Corresponding Percentile ranges Interpretation Clinically severe Clinically significant Borderline Within normal limits % score range 95 -100 90 -94 85 -89 <85