Development and validation of the Partner Parental Support Questionnaire

Parenting is generally considered one of the most rewarding roles in adult life. But parenting is also recognized as one of the most demanding role in adulthood. For many parents, support is necessary to cope with costs and stressors associated with parenting, in particular the support that partners provide each other in the field of parenthood. The aim of the current study was to examine the construct validity of the concept of partner parental support and to provide researchers with an instrument to measure it. We conducted a questionnaire-based online study with a community sample of 442 parents using confirmatory factor analyses. We tested and supported a tridimensional structure of partner parental support (i.e., emotional support, concrete support, and role approval). The final version of the Partner Parental Support Questionnaire (PPSQ) contains 15 items and displays strong support for the validity of the questionnaire. We also examined the external validity of the concept of partner parental support. Moderate positive correlations confirm that significant relations exist between partner parental support, marital satisfaction and parental sense of competence. The results are discussed for their theoretical and clinical implications.