Adaptation and validation of the Parental Behaviour Scale for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Chinese parents

The present study aimed to adapt and examine the psychometric properties of the Parental Behaviour Scale - ASD (PBS-A) in Chinese parents of young children with ASD. The translated version of the PBS-A was administered to 416 parents of young children with ASD (sample 1) to examine the construct validity and internal consistencies. One hundred and five of them (sample 2) were followed-up a month later to examine the test-retest reliability. The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ), the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Autism Parenting Stress Inventory (APSI) were administered along with the Chinese version of the PBS-A (C-PBS-A) in Sample 3 (n = 110) to examine the criterion validity of the scale. The original structure was not replicated, and a new seven-factor structure containing 41 items was determined using exploratory factor analysis. There were four dimensions measuring shared parenting behaviors with typically developing children and three dimensions measuring ASD-specific parenting behaviors. The internal consistencies and test-retest reliabilities of the C-PBS-A were acceptable. The positive correlations among subscales of the C-PBS-A and similar dimensions in the APQ supported good convergent validity. In support of predictive validity, supportive dimensions in the C-PBS-A were negatively correlated with children’s behavioral problems and parenting stress, while negative control dimensions were positively correlated with these two variables. The Chinese version of the Parental Behaviour Scale (ASD) has good validity and reliability. It can be used to measure the parenting behaviors among Chinese parents of young children with ASD in future research. • The original structure of PBS-A was not replicated while a new seven-factor structure containing 41 items were determined using exploratory factor analysis. The Chinese version of Parental Behaviour Scale - ASD (C-PBS-A) consisted of four dimensions measuring shared parenting behaviors with typically developing children and three dimensions measuring ASD-specific parenting behaviors. • The construct validity, internal consistencies and test-retest reliabilities of the C-PBS-A were satisfactory. • The convergent validity of the C-PBS-A was supported by moderate to high correlations of similar dimensions in C-PBS-A and those in the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. • The predictive validity of the C-PBS-A was supported by negative correlations of supportive parenting dimensions in C-PBS-A with behavioral problems of the child and parenting stress and positive correlations of negative controlling parenting dimensions in C-PBS-A with these two variables.