Measurement of specific parenting behaviors was not the focus of these studies although parenting behaviors are commonly targeted by family-focused prevention programs. Frequently we rely on parents’ self-report of their behavior toward their children rather than observing their behavior directly. Third-party observations are considered the gold standard for measuring frequent daily interactions. Researchers argue that the paucity of observational measures validated for racial/ethnic minority families may have limited our understanding of family processes (McLoyd, Cauce, Takeuchi, & Wilson, 2000) which impact problem behaviors, those family processes central to interventions designed to reduce risk and increase protective factors for children and adolescents. However, it is essential that we demonstrate measurement equivalence across racial/ethnic groups before asserting there are or are not group differences in the frequency of particular behaviors or the magnitude of the impact of parent behaviors on child or adolescent outcomes.
