Brief Parenting Support for Parents of Teenagers Dealing with Family Conflict: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

There is a need for research to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of alternative delivery methods to make evidence-based parenting programs more accessible to parents of teenagers. This study aimed to test the efficacy of a 2-h parenting discussion group for parents of adolescents experiencing family conflict. It was hypothesised that parents attending the discussion group would report reductions in family conflict and adolescent behavior problems and improvements in the parent–adolescent relationship and parenting in comparison to control parents. This study was a randomized controlled trial. Ninety parents of teenagers (11–16 years; M = 13.23 years) were randomly allocated to intervention (n = 43) or waitlist conditions (n = 47) and completed questionnaires of parent–adolescent and family conflict, adolescent behavior, the parent–adolescent relationship and parenting at pre- and post-intervention and 6-month follow up. At post-intervention, intervention parents reported greater declines in adolescent oppositional behavior problems in comparison to controls. No intervention effects were found for parent–adolescent or family conflict, or for the parent–adolescent relationship and parenting practices. Brief parenting interventions may offer an alternative strategy for supporting parents to deal with challenging adolescent behavior, but further research is required to determine if this type of brief and targeted intervention is effective for family conflict. Such research is important given the need for effective and easily deployable prevention and intervention approaches that address a problem that has significant impact on adolescent wellbeing and family functioning.