Analyzing the Validity of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory for Low-Income Populations

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the construct and predictive validity of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2). Methods: The validity of the AAPI-2 was evaluated using multiple statistical methods, including exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and latent class analysis. These analyses were conducted using data collected from a culturally diverse sample of 2,160 low-income parents. Results: Although the AAPI-2 yielded high reliability coefficients, analyses of the instrument’s validity diverged significantly from the results reported by the instrument’s developers. Specifically, the instruments’ reported five-factor structure was not supported in this study. Moreover, parents’ AAPI-2 scores were not associated with child abuse as originally hypothesized. However, when the AAPI-2 was analyzed as a categorical latent variable, the results were useful in identifying parents who were unlikely to abuse or neglect their children. Conclusion: Further replication and extension research on the AAPI-2 with other low-income populations is warranted.