# Optimizing the Assessment of Parenting: A Multi-Method and Multi-Informant Approach

> **NIH NIH DP5** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · 2024 · $386,076

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Parenting plays a crucial role in youth development, influencing a myriad of health behaviors. As a result,
parenting is a common focus of interventions aimed at improving youth health outcomes. Effective parenting
interventions and their study necessitate robust assessments of parenting. However, the state of the evidence
for psychometric properties of existing parenting assessments is weak. The Multidimensional Assessment of
Parenting Scale (MAPS) is a measure of parenting exhibiting strong psychometric properties. However, the
utility of the MAPS remains limited by the omission of certain parenting dimensions, as indicated by preliminary
studies. Other limitations impeding progress in measuring parenting include: 1) underutilization of qualitative
methods, 2) the need for multi-informant reports (e.g., youth or coparent), 3) the absence of validated
ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) of parenting, 4) limited use of advanced psychometric methods,
and 5) underrepresentation of ethnoracially minoritized and non-English speaking parents, as well as fathers,
in parenting research and theories. Further, preliminary data from my current R36 project show that the MAPS
can be enhanced through revisions informed by mixed methods, which resulted in better measurement quality
indices and measurement equivalence of the MAPS by parent ethnoracial identities. Therefore, in this project, I
propose introducing multiple innovations to optimize the MAPS. Aim 1 involves conducting qualitative
interviews with parents and experts, followed by qualitative and text mining analyses of interview data, to
inform revisions to the MAPS and identify unmeasured parenting domains, which will yield the MAPS-S for
self-report. Aim 2 will focus on developing and field testing the MAPS-S for coparent (MAPS-C) and youth
(MAPS-Y) report through cognitive interviews and national surveys. The objective is to examine factor
structures, reliability, and measurement equivalence in two independent samples to ensure the replication of
strong psychometric properties. In Aim 2, Spanish measures will be piloted in an additional national sample.
Aim 3 employs item response theory to develop an optimal EMA MAPS, which will be tested with parents and
youth dyads. Across all aims, I will examine relations between MAPS subscales, MAPS agreement,
discrepancy, and youth health outcomes to establish convergent validity. This project is innovative in its use of
novel approaches, including iterative, multimethod, multi-informant, EMA, and data-informed methods, to
develop and validate novel parenting scales. By involving parents from ethnoracially diverse and Spanish
speaking parents, including fathers, we will be able to accurately determine when and how to intervene and
prevent negative or ineffective parenting in diverse families. The assessments emerging from this study can be
clinically employed to screen, target, and monitor negative or ineffective parenting in intervention...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10901637
- **Project number:** 1DP5OD036508-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
- **Principal Investigator:** Violeta de Jesus Rodriguez
- **Activity code:** DP5 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $386,076
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-19 → 2029-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10901637

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10901637, Optimizing the Assessment of Parenting: A Multi-Method and Multi-Informant Approach (1DP5OD036508-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10901637. Licensed CC0.

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