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Abstract
Parenting predicts a wide range of developmental outcomes. The detrimental effect of negative parenting practices on child outcomes is well-established. Similarly, the impact of positive parenting practices and non-physical forms of punishment on psychosocial development is also well documented. Improved assessment of parenting practices has critical implications for clinical screening into services, identifying needs for additional support during interventions, and monitoring intervention progress. Therefore, comprehensive measures that capture multiple dimensions of parenting are needed to address these key clinical and research needs. While there is rising interest in family research focusing on racial and ethnic diversity, there is an unmet need for valid, reliable, and equitable assessments of parenting practices in racially and ethnically diverse populations. The Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS) is a comprehensive measure of parenting practices with strong psychometric properties, and efficiently assesses 7 dimensions of parenting using only 34 items. Despite its high utility, the MAPS is limited in that it was developed in a predominantly White sample (87%). Minoritized racial and ethnic groups currently comprise 40% of the United States (US) population and are expected to become the majority by 2045. Therefore, this project extended the utility of the MAPS to racially and ethnically diverse families by 1) refining MAPS items using n = 100 cognitive interviews with parents from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds to enhance racial and ethnic representation, and 2) quantitatively established the Revised MAPS factor structure, and assessed reliability, validity, and measurement invariance/equivalence (MI/E) by race and ethnicity among N = 1699 parents (25.2% Non-Hispanic White, 22.2% Non-Hispanic Asian, 23.8% Non-Hispanic Black, and 25.6% Hispanic). Following revisions guided by cognitive interviews to simplify items and reduce confusion or ambiguity, the factor structure of the MAPS was replicated in the Revised MAPS. Further, MI/E, reliability and validity of the Revised MAPS were supported. Quantitative and qualitative data were informed by community-based participatory research principles to enhance the psychometric properties of the MAPS by engaging minoritized racial and ethnic groups. Using this multimethod approach, the Revised MAPS further increases the utility of the MAPS by extension to this historically underrepresented segment of the US population.