Parenting Stress Index (PSI)

The Parenting Stress Index (PSI), developed by Richard Abidin in 1976, is a screening and diagnostic assessment tool commonly used to measure the magnitude of stress in the parent-child system. Abidin describes several potential uses of the PSI including screening for the early identification of parenting and family characteristics that fail to produce normal development and functioning in children, identifying children with behavioral and emotional problems, and screening for parents who are at risk for dysfunctional parenting. Abidin has also suggested that the PSI would be useful as a measure of intervention effectiveness and in clinical research. In recent years, the PSI has been used frequently in research investigating child maltreatment and its sequelae.