Assessment of self-reported parenting practices with the home environment profile-abbreviated form : comparing parents of children with and without disabilities

This study examined the differences in self-reported parenting practices between parents of children with and without disabilities. These differences were investigated using the Home Environment Profile-Abbreviated Form (HEP-AF; Dickinson, 2001). The HEP-AF measures self-reported parenting practices in the areas of Nurturing, Monitoring, Discipline, and Modeling Attitudes and Behaviors. (These areas make up the subscales of the HEP-AF.) The research sample consisted of 308 parents of 4th through 8th grade students. Fifty-two parents reported that their child had a disability; 256 parents reported that their child did not have a disability. The results from multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) indicated that student group (nondisabled students/students with a disability) had a statistically significant effect on the multivariate combination of parenting practices, after controlling for the effect of parent income and education level. Univariate analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were subsequently conducted and, while controlling for the effect of parent income and education, indicated a significant effect with the parenting practices of Monitoring, Discipline and Modeling Attitudes and Behaviors (Modeling). A comparison of the adjusted means between groups indicated that parents of children with a disability scored significantly lower (less desirable) than parents of nondisabled children on the subscales of Monitoring, Discipline, and Modeling. Scores on the Nurturing subscale were not different between groups. Significant differences between groups were also found for the Total Scale and a number of specific HEP-AF items with the parents of children with a disability scoring lower (less desirable) than parents of nondisabled children.