Change in Child Abuse Potential as a Predictor of Post-assessment Child Disruptive Behaviors After Participation in PACE

Abstract

Well-established research indicates that behavioral parent training (BPT) has a robust impact on improving parent–child relationships; however few studies have investigated predictors or mechanisms of change within the context of BPT. The purpose of the current study was to examine: (a) if change in parent child abuse potential (as measured by the Child Abuse Potential Inventory) predicted change in post-assessment child disruptive behaviors (as measured by the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory) in the Parenting Our Children to Excellence (PACE) program, and (b) if this relation was present when selecting for clinically-elevated child disruptive behavior at pre-assessment. The current study utilized secondary data analysis collected from PACE. A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted on the full and clinically-elevated samples to test study objectives. Decreased parental child abuse potential predicted decreased child disruptive behavior. For the elevated model, this effect trended toward significance. Although small, these findings suggest the importance of addressing parenting-related changes in BPT, which may subsequently affect both parent and child functioning at post-assessment. Future investigations should continue to examine putative predictors or mediators of parent and child outcomes in BPT, with parent child abuse potential as one such predictor. Study limitations and future directions for research were discussed.