Development and Validation of the Parenting Skill Use Diary (PSUD) in a Nationally Representative Sample

Objective: We describe the development and psychometric properties of an instrument designed to assess the use of effective parenting skills reported with a daily diary. The Parenting Skill Use Diary (PSUD) was developed iteratively relying on a "common elements" approach to quantify the use of evidence-based parenting techniques for responding to child misbehaviors and positive behaviors. Method: The PSUD was administered online daily for seven days to parents/guardians of children aged 5-12. The nationally representative sample (N = 1,570) was selected to match the US population of such parents/guardians on key demographic variables. Results: The instrument demonstrated the ability to capture significant between person variability in the appropriate use of parent management skills. A weekly summary score discriminated between parents/guardians whose children screened positive versus negative for Conduct Disorder (AUC = .72) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (AUC = .70). Conclusions: The results supported the reliability of validity of the diary as a research tool for examining mean differences.