SIPA™

Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents™

Purpose: Identifies stressful areas in parent–adolescent interactions in parents of adolescents ages 11-19 years

Format: Paper and pencil, Online administration

Age range: 11 years to 19 years

Time: 20 minutes

DETAILS:

The 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.

• 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 counseling, 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.