New Questionnaire for Fathers of Children with Developmental Challenges: Supports and Challenges of Childrearing (SCC)

Background: Previous studies about parents of children with developmental challenges (DCs) have primarily focused on mothers (Keller & Honig, 2004) leading to a relative lack of information about fathers. Although they share some perceptions about raising children with DCs (Knafl & Zoeller, 2000), factors related to stress in fathers do differ from mothers (Hastings, 2003). Studies that include fathers rely on measures intended for parents of typically developing children (e.g., Parental Stress Index (PSI; Abidin, 1995)), which may not address experiences of fathers of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other DCs. The SCC was developed explicitly to apply to fathers raising atypically developing children and factors impinging upon their ability to be involved.

Objectives: To establish the reliability and validity of a new measure of fathers’ perceptions of what supports and challenges their efforts to be involved in childrearing

Methods: Eighty-five fathers of children (78% male) with ASD and other DCs (74% ASD, 17% Down Syndrome, 9% other) completed an online survey. Children averaged 7.5 years (SD = 3.2). Fathers’ average age was 44 years (SD = 8.5) and most were Caucasian (63%; 16.5% Hispanic; 10.6% Asian). A sample SCC item is “It’s easy to be involved with my child because I can handle the difficulties that come with my child’s disabilities.” Reliability was assessed via Cronbach’s alpha. To address convergent and discriminant validity, fathers completed the PSI (Abidin, 1995), NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992), Parenting Commitment Scale (Greenberger & Goldberg, 1989), and the Social Communication Questionnaire (Rutter et al., 2001).

Results: The SCC demonstrated very good reliability ( = .88) and construct validity by showing a high positive correlation with the PSI (r = .69, p < .001) and low correlations with the NEO-FFI (r_extraversion = -.19, p = .08; r_openness = .29, p < .001; r_{conscientiousness} = -.17, p = .11; r_{agreeableness} = -.22, p = .04;  r_neuroticism = .41, p < .001). Higher scores on the SCC (i.e., greater difficulty being involved) were related to more social communication severity (r =  .39, p < .001) and less parenting commitment (r = -.41, p < .001). Despite the high correlation between them, the SCC and the PSI were not redundant as they demonstrated different magnitudes of association with study variables. Unlike the SCC, the PSI had a significant negative correlation with income and conscientiousness, and a significant positive correlation with extraversion. Although the SCC and PSI were both related to neuroticism, an r-to-z transformation revealed that the PSI correlation (r = .63) was greater (p = .05) than that of the SCC (r = .41).

Conclusions: The SCC represents a preliminary effort to create an easy-to-administer questionnaire of fathers’ perceptions of supports and barriers to raising children with an ASD or other DCs. Results seem promising with analyses revealing that the SCC acts in theoretically expected ways, is reliable, and has construct validity. With further validation, the SCC could assist professionals aiming to create and deliver services to fathers with children with DCs.