The Parental Stress Scale revisited: Rasch-based construct validity for Danish parents of children 2–18 years old with and without behavioral problems

Table 4 Comparison of observed and DIF-adjusted mean Parental Stress scores and mean Lack of Parental Satisfaction scores in groups affected by differential item functioning in the total sample

DIF-groups (N)	Observed scores		Adjusted scores
DIF-groups (N)	Mean	SE	Mean	SE	Bias^a
Parental stress subscale^a
Sample^b
Ordinary (571)	4.07	.08	4.45	.08	−.38
Behavior (234)	5.14	.14	4.77	.14	.37
Parent education^c
Secondary or less (203)	4.90	.15	4.52	.15	.38
Tertiary (602)	4.21	.08	4.55	.08	−.34
Lack of parental satisfaction subscale
Sample^d
Ordinary (571)	.69	.04	.69	.04	.00
Behavior (234)	.92	.09	.75	.08	.17

SE Standard error
^aAs the Parental Stress subscale is affected by DIF from more than once source, any reference group within a DIF-variable is adjusted to account for the other sources of DIF, and thus all groups are biased if not adjusted
^bDifferences in observed mean scores (χ² (1) = 45.4, p < .001)., and adjusted mean scores (χ² (1) = 4.1, p = .042)
^cDifferences in observed mean scores (χ² (1) = 15.7, p < .001), and adjusted mean scores (χ² (1) = 0.0, p = .849)
^dDifferences in observed mean scores (χ² (1) = 6.2, p = .01), and adjusted mean scores (χ² (1) = 0.6, p = .442)

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