Files
Abstract
Assessing the risk of child maltreatment is an important part of the child welfare field. Although many risk assessment models and instruments are available, no reliable and valid risk assessment instruments exist that are specifically designed for immigrant parents. In addition, among the identified risk factors for child maltreatment, parental stress is a key risk factor that should be considered in the process of assessing the risk of child maltreatment. With this background, the present study was undertaken to develop a risk assessment instrument for immigrant parents focusing on a critical factor, parental stress. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the Immigrant Parental Stress Inventory (IPSI), which has two purposes: (1) to assess stress experienced by immigrant parents within their bilingual and bicultural contexts, and (2) to predict the risk for future child maltreatment by immigrant parents.The IPSI was developed on the basis of the ecological model, the stress model, and a review of the literature, the existing risk assessment instruments, and the existing measures relevant to immigration or immigrants. The items refined through expert interviews and a pilot test were empirically validated with a sample of 366 Korean immigrant parents. The exploratory factor analysis revealed that the IPSI has two subscales: Immigration Stress and Parent-Child Acculturative Gap Stress. The total IPSI and its two subscales showed good reliability. In addition, the four hypotheses for construct validity were supported through a series of statistical analyses.The IPSI was shown to be a risk assessment instrument with satisfactory psychometric properties that is capable of measuring immigrant parental stress and assessing the risk of child maltreatment. Professionals and researchers studying or working with immigrant families could use the IPSI to examine immigrant parental stress or to identify immigrant parents who are at high risk of child maltreatment. Implications for theory and practice, and recommendations for future research were suggested based on the findings of this study.