The APQ used in NSPN is a 15-item scale that measures parenting practices. This is a short form of the original 35-item scale. This scale consists of the 9 items short from reported in Elgar et al. (2007) plus the entire original Corporal Punishment scale (3 items) and 3 items from the Involvement scale. Some references are below:

• Frick, P.J., Christian, R.E., & Wootton, J.M. (1999). Age trends in the association between parenting practices and conduct problems. Behavior Modification, 23, 106-128.
• Essau, C., Sasagawa, S., & Frick, P. (2006). Psychometric Properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 15, 595-614.

Citation reference:

• Elgar, F., Waschbusch, D., Dadds, M., & Sigvaldason, N. (2007). Development and Validation of a Short Form of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16, 243-259.
• Shelton, K.K., Frick, P.J., & Wootton, J. (1996). Assessment of parenting practices in families of elementary school-age children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25, 317-329.

Participants were asked to rate how typical each item occurred or used to occur in their family home. Ratings were on a five point scale from 'Never” to 'Always”. A total APQ score is generally not used, possibly because in some scales high scores are better parenting and in other scales high scores indicate more difficulties. There are five subscales:

• Positive Parenting (items 1, 9 and 10)
• Inconsistent Discipline (items 2, 5 and 12)
• Poor Supervision (items 3, 7 and 11)
• Involvement (items 4, 6 and 8)
• Corporal Punishment (items 13, 14 and 15)

In all scales, the higher the score the more frequent the behaviour – so for involvement high scores = high parental involvement. But for corporal punishment high scores = frequent physical punishment.