Publication year
2016
Citation Title
Parent training to reduce problem behaviors over the transition to high school: Tests of indirect effects through improved emotion regulation skills
Journal Name
Children and Youth Services Review
Journal Volume
61
Page Numbers
176-183
DOI
10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.12.022
Summary
Parent education programs are in general beneficial in reducing young people's problem behaviors. The Common Sense Parenting (CSP) and Common Sense Parenting Plus (CSP Plus) programs were offered to families with 8th graders, and the effects of the programs were compared to a control group. Results revealed that the CSP program increased adolescents' emotion regulation skills, which in turn, led to fewer problem behaviors.
Key Findings
CSP, but not CSP Plus, had significant indirect effect on reduced substance use, conduct problems, and school suspension at 1-year or 2-year follow-ups through improved adolescents’ emotion regulation skills.
Neither the CSP nor CSP Plus intervention had significant direct effects on the three adolescent outcomes.
Adolescents’ improved emotion regulation skills after both interventions were associated with their reduced problem behaviors.
Implications for Military Professionals
Educate military parents about the importance of emotion regulation for their adolescents
Provide military parents with information and resources that may help them to cope with their adolescents’ problem behaviors
Implications for Program Leaders
Design evidence-based parent education curricula, and make them accessible to military families
Offer support groups for military adolescents who are experiencing transitions to high school
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to support parent education programs in order to increase military parents’ parenting skills, and reduce military adolescents’ problem behaviors
Recommend training for professionals who work with military families regarding ways to prevent problem behaviors in military adolescents
Methods
The sample was recruited by presenting study information to 8th graders during core classes.
Families were randomly assigned to the CSP group (N = 118), the CSP Plus group (N = 95), or the minimal-contact control group (N = 108); the mean percentages of possible intervention sessions attended were 70% for CSP, and 72% for CSP Plus.
Parents and students completed pretest, posttest, 1-year follow-up, and 2-year follow-up assessments with a retention rate of 94%; the measures included adolescent substance use, conduct problems, school suspensions, and emotion regulation skills.
Participants
The sample included 321 low income families of 8th graders; in each family, a target parent and a target 8th grader participated in the study.
The average age of the parents was 40.21 years (SD = 7.49, 83% female), and the average of the 8th graders was 13.41 years (SD = 0.52, 52% female).
Most of the parents were White (48%), followed by Black (26%), Asian-American (8%), Native American (2%), and Multiracial or Other (16%); 14% of the parents reported to be Latino.
Limitations
Most of the participating families were low-income families, therefore the results may not be applicable to families with higher income.
The behavioral outcomes were reported by the adolescents themselves, therefore the results were subjective, and may not represent parents’ perspective.
Certain aspects of CSP implementation in the study did not match CSP in real-life practice (e.g., participants in the study were offered money whereas no such incentives were offered in practice), therefore a discrepancy may exist between outcomes in research and outcomes in practice.
Avenues for Future Research
Recruit families with a broader range of socioeconomic status so that the results can be better generalized
Measure youth problem behaviors both subjectively and objectively to get a thorough understanding
Expand the outcome measures to include psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
Adolescent problem behaviors are costly for individuals and society. Promoting the self-regulatory functioning of youth may help prevent the development of such behaviors. Parent-training and family intervention programs have been shown to improve child and adolescent self-regulation. This study helps fill gaps in knowledge by testing for indirect effects of the Common Sense Parenting¨ (CSP) program on reduced substance use, conduct problems, and school suspensions through previously identified short-term improvements in parents' reports of their children's emotion regulation skills. Over two cohorts, 321 low income families of 8th graders were enrolled and randomly assigned to either the standard CSP program, an adapted CSP Plus program, or a minimal-contact control condition. Pretest, posttest, 1-year follow-up, and 2-year follow-up survey assessments were completed by parents and students with 94% retention. Intent-to-treat multivariate path analyses were conducted. Neither intervention had statistically significant total effects on the three targeted adolescent outcomes. CSP, but not CSP Plus, had statistically significant indirect effects on reduced substance use and school suspensions at the 1-year follow-up as well as conduct problems and school suspensions at the 2-year follow-up through increased child emotion regulation skills at posttest. Findings provide some support for emotion regulation as one pathway through which the intervention was associated, indirectly, with reduced substance use, conduct problems, and school suspensions among at-risk students over the high school transition.
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