Parental Behavior Inventory: Psychometric Properties in Two South American Contexts

<i><b>Objective.</b></i> The Parental Behavior Inventory (PBI) assesses reports of parenting behaviors along two dimensions: supportive/engaged (S/E) and hostile/coercive (H/C). However, its cross-cultural validity, particularly in Spanish-speaking populations, remains underexplored. This study aimed to provide evidence of the PBI’s content validity, internal structure (dimensionality, reliability, group equivalence), and association with the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire. <i><b>Design.</b></i> Six hundred eighty-eight Colombian and Uruguayan parents with children aged 4–10 years participated. <i><b>Results.</b></i> Content adaptation ensured a clear and culturally appropriate Spanish-speaking version for both groups. Dimensionality analysis supported the original two-factor orthogonal model but revealed high factorial complexity due to cross-loadings. A refined 11-item version (PBI-S) reduced this complexity and maintained validity. The PBI-S demonstrated measurement invariance across country, educational level, gender, and socioeconomic status, with omega reliability exceeding .85 for S/E and .65 for H/C. S/E positively correlated with democratic parenting styles, and H/C aligned with authoritarian and permissive styles. <i><b>Conclusions.</b></i> This study introduces a concise, reliable PBI version suitable for Spanish-speaking contexts, offering a valuable tool for measuring perceived parenting behaviors critical to the development of school-age children.