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Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the validity of the Parents’ Self-Stigma Scale (PSSS) in the context of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), an evidence-based parenting intervention that aims to decrease behavior problems in young children and improve parenting abilities to enhance the parent-child relationship. Additionally, this study aims to examine the association between family demographic characteristics and scores on the PSSS. The sample consists of parents of young children (ages 2-8) with clinically significant behavior problems or externalizing disorders who participated in PCIT at University of Chicago Medicine and completed the PSSS at the beginning of treatment. The PSSS scores and demographic information were collected from these parents. We hypothesized that 1) parents who participated in PCIT would possess similar self-stigma levels as parents in a previous study who have children with mental or developmental disorders, 2) that bad-parent self-beliefs would be experienced more among these parents than self-blame or self-shame, and 3) that female parents would have greater self-stigma than male parents. Results indicated that parents who participated in PCIT reported significantly lower levels of self-stigma, but that these parents did not report significantly greater bad-parent self-beliefs than self-blame or self-shame. We also found mixed results concerning gender differences in the PSSS scores between female and male parents. Furthermore, we found that parent’s age was significantly and positively associated with self-stigma, but race, specifically Black or African-American, was significantly and negatively associated with self-stigma among parents who participated in PCIT. Implications of this study and future research directions are discussed.