Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA)

Purpose: Identify stressful areas in parent–adolescent interactions in parents of adolescents

Age: 11-19 years

Time: 20 minutes

The Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA) is a screening and diagnostic instrument that identifies areas of stress in parent–adolescent interactions, allowing examination of the relationship of parenting stress to adolescent characteristics, parent characteristics, the quality of the adolescent–parent interactions, and stressful life circumstances.

Key Features

• Areas of parent-focused inspection include life restrictions, relationship with spouse/partner, social alienation, and incompetence/guilt.
• Areas of adolescent-focused inspection include moodiness/emotional lability, social isolation/withdrawal, delinquency/antisocial, and failure to achieve or persevere.
• Useful for family counselling, forensic evaluations for adolescent custody, identification of dysfunctional parent-adolescent systems, prevention programs designed to reduce parental stress, and intervention and treatment planning in high stress areas.
• This upward age extension of the third edition of the PSI contains 112 items and is written at a 5th-grade reading level.

The 90-item SIPA covers the following scales:

• Adolescent Characteristics          
• Parent Characteristics
• Moodiness/Emotional Liability
• Life Restrictions
• Social Isolation/Withdrawal
• Relationship with Spouse/Partner
• Delinquency/Antisocial
• Social Alienation
• Failure to Achieve or Perservere
• Incompetence/Guilt

The SIPA also includes an optional, 22-item Life Stress Scale.

The SIPA is useful for identification of dysfunctional parent-adolescent systems, prevention programs designed to reduce parental stress, intervention and treatment planning, family counselling, and forensic evaluations for adolescent custody.

The SIPA can be administered and scored online via PARiConnect. All PARiConnect purchases made directly through ACER include dedicated local support. Contact our Customer Service Team to set up your account today.