Measurement Invariance of the Positive Parenting Scale Across Child Gender and Parental Educational Attainment

Positive parenting is widely recognized as a multidimensional and universal construct encompassing diverse caregiving practices that promote children’s healthy development. Ensuring that parenting measures operate equivalently across different demographic groups is essential for making meaningful comparisons in family research. The present study examined the measurement invariance of the Positive Parenting Scale (PPS) across child gender and parental educational attainment among parents of children aged 4-6 years in Türkiye. Data were collected from parents using a convenience sampling approach, and responses were obtained through self-report measures. The participants consisted of a total of 473 parents, including 67.65% women (n = 320) and 32.35% men (n = 153). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test configural, metric, scalar, and strict measurement invariance of the PPS across the specified groups. The findings supported measurement invariance across both child gender and parental educational attainment, indicating that the scale operates equivalently across these demographic groups. These results show that PPS scores can be meaningfully compared across parents of girls and boys as well as across different parental educational levels. Establishing measurement invariance provides further support for the use of the PPS in research and applied settings involving diverse parent populations in early childhood contexts.