ASSESSING PARENTING AND FAMILY FUNCTIONING MEASURES FOR URBAN AMERICAN INDIANS

Urban American Indian (AI) families often “live in two worlds,” and widely used parenting measures may not adequately capture their parenting styles. Drawing from baseline surveys of AI parents living in 3 urban communities in Arizona (n = 606), this study examines the applicability of using 6 previously validated measures with urban AI parents: parent self-agency, parental supervision, positive parenting practices, discipline, family cohesion, and parent–adolescent conflict. A 4-step factor analytic sequential procedure was employed, and results indicate the only measure remaining as a single factor is discipline. The χ2 difference tests of the remaining 5 measures indicate multiple factors fit the data significantly better than the previously validated single factor. These findings indicate previously validated measures are not adequate holistic descriptions of the parenting and familial experiences of urban AIs. Understanding how urban AIs conceptualize parenting provides a foundation for strengthening urban AI families.