Parent Alliance Measure By: Richard R. Abidin & Timothy R. Konold Jesus Jr. Camposeco ECE 675 Dr. David Brown

Purpose Measures the strength of the perceived alliance between parents of children ages 1 to 19 years. Reflects the parents’ ability to cooperate with each other in meeting the needs of the child. Family and Relationships.

History PAM was initially developed by Abidin in 1988 as part of a longitudinal study of family relations. PAM was originally called the Parenting Alliance Inventory (PAI) and consisted of 80 items. The items were field tested with parents for readability and clarity. Items were next reviewed by experts who rated the degree to which the items reflected the construct of parenting alliance. This rating was used to reduce the measure to 30 items. The 30-item test was administered to a sample of 512 parents. Based upon the factor loadings, the total number of items was reduced to 20. PAM reflects a substantive-construct approach to test development that was guided by clinical and empirical considerations. Empirical research and clinical models that support the concept of the parenting alliance and the impact of the parental relationship on children's adjustments are cited as the basis for the development of items.

Test Construction & Requirements Longitudinal study of family relations 20-item paper-and-pencil, hand-scored test Completed in less than 10 minutes Is permissible to read the PAM items aloud to parents who have difficulty reading PAM manual provides extensive discussion of the development of the test and the factor analysis of the normative sample. PAM requires a third-grade reading level.

Cost http://www4.parinc.com/ 2015: $164 per introductory kit including professional manual and 50 hand-scorable test forms.

Administration The Parenting Alliance Measure (PAM) is a 20-item paper-and-pencil, hand-scored test. Parents respond to the items using a 5-point rating scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The PAM can be administered and scored by individuals who do not have formal training in psychology.

Accommodations & Adaptation PAM requires a third-grade reading level. Is permissible to read the PAM items aloud to parents who have difficulty reading the questions.

Scores & Scoring The PAM can be administered and scored by individuals who do not have formal training in psychology; however, interpretation of the PAM requires graduate training in psychology or related fields. PAM raw score is calculated by summing the item scores for all 20 items. Corresponding percentile scores and T-score conversions are provided. As scores between mothers and fathers were found to differ significantly in the normative sample, raw scores, percentile scores, and T-scores conversions are provided separately for mothers and fathers. The PAM Total score provides an indication of the degree to which parents perceive themselves to be in a cooperative, communicative, and mutually respectful alliance for the care of their children" (professional manual, p. 5).

Parents receive themselves to be in a cooperative, communicative and mutually respectfully alliance for the care of their children High score: Strong parenting alliance 20th percentile are considered within the normal range. 20th percentile are interpreted as indicative of a parenting alliance scores bellow marginal (15th-19th percentile) problematic (6th-14th percentile) dysfunctional (1st-5th percentile).

Reliability and Validation The internal consistency reliability coefficients, as reported in the manual for mothers and fathers in the normative sample, indicate a high degree of internal consistency (>.95). Test-retest reliability indicated stability of the test over a 4- to 6-week period. Validation evidence for the PAM includes studies completed on both the original PAI and the PAM. Validity of scores from the test was examined by expert review as noted above. Criterion-related validity was considered by examining the PAM in relation to parenting stress, marital quality, family functioning, and children's self-esteem and social competence. Consistent with hypotheses, results found the PAM to be significantly negatively correlated with parenting stress and significantly positively correlated with family cohesion, family adaptability, and marital quality. Multiple studies have been conducted examining the relation between PAM scores and children's adjustment with results generally in the direction anticipated by theory or previous research. Discriminant validity of the parenting alliance as a unique component of marital quality was considered in a study examining the independent relationship of the PAM and marital adjustment to child behavior problems. The PAM has been found to be uncorrelated with socially desirable responding in three studies to date.

Interpretation The PAM reflects a substantive-construct approach to test development that was guided by clinical and empirical considerations. Empirical research and clinical models that support the concept of the parenting alliance and the impact of the parental relationship on children's adjustments are cited as the basis for the development of items. PAM manual provides extensive discussion of the development of the test and the factor analysis of the normative sample. A comparison of these data indicates a respectable approximation of the nation's population characteristics with the exception of Hispanic parents who are underrepresented in the normative sample. As parent gender was determined to be a significant influence, separate norms were calculated for mothers and fathers. Although the manual also cites research finding significant differences in parenting alliance scores for parents based on family structure, no separate norms are provided for married, single parent, and remarried mothers and fathers. No data were provided on ethnic differences in test results. The internal consistency reliability coefficients, as reported in the manual for mothers and fathers in the normative sample, indicate a high degree of internal consistency. Test-retest reliability indicated stability of the test over a 4- to 6-week period.

Links to Intervention Authors considered parents of children with and without clinical diagnoses. Parents of children without diagnoses and parents of children with ADHD diagnoses reported stronger alliances than parents of children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or conduct disorder (CD). Discriminant validity was examined by comparing parents' scores on the Marital Adjustment Test (MAT) with PAM scores and making a similar comparison of PAM scores with children's scores on the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI), a measure of child adjustment. The ECBI was not correlated significantly with the MAT, yet the ECBI and PAM were moderately correlated, and the PAM and MAT were strongly correlated. The authors take this as an indication that the PAM stands as a significant measure of the relationship between parenting during marital stress and children's adjustment experiences.

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-EOV56oRkQ

References Abidin, R. R. (1992). The determinants of parenting behavior. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 21, 407-412. Abidin, R. R., & Konold, T. R. (1988). Parenting Alliance Measure. http://www4.parinc.com/ Weissman, S. H., & Cohen, R. S. (1985). The parenting alliance and adolescence. Adolescent Psychiatry, 12, 24-45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-EOV56oRkQ