Psychometric properties of the Video Vignettes Sensitive Parenting Assessment for parents of infants

Abstract

Sensitive parenting, involving prompt and appropriate responses to infant cues, is critical to children’s development. The two components of sensitive parenting, sensitivity to infant cues of non-distress and nurturance in response to infant cues of distress, have been widely researched over the last several decades and are often the target of parenting interventions. Despite their popularity in research and clinical domains, measurement of sensitivity and nurturance typically involves behavioral coding of recorded parent-infant interactions, which requires time, training, and expertise. To address this issue, we developed the Video Vignettes Sensitive Parenting Assessments – Infant (VVSPA-I), a brief, vignettes-based measure meant to measure sensitivity and nurturance efficiently. In the current study, we examined the factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity of the VVSPA-I. We hypothesized that a two-factor model would be the best fit, that the two scales would demonstrate good internal consistency, and that the sensitivity and nurturance scores would be correlated with observed sensitivity, intrusiveness, and nurturance. Indeed, a two-factor solution emerged superior to a one-factor solution and the sensitivity scale scores correlated with observed sensitivity and intrusiveness, while the nurturance scale scores correlated with observed nurturance. However, the measure did not demonstrate good internal consistency and some factor loadings were too small or too large. In addition, further examination of response patterns on individual items revealed high variability in responses across items (i.e., some questions were too easy, some were too difficult). We concluded that the VVSPA-I is not yet psychometrically sound and that there are several changes to be made to the item before it may be used with confidence.