Follow-up One Year after Parent-Child Interaction Training: Effects on Behavior of Preschool Children

Abstract

A preventive mental health intervention previously reported found positive effects in a parent-child interaction training program on attention deficit and internalizing symptoms of low-income preschool children as rated by parents. Families were randomly assigned to a "minimal treatment" control group or a more extensive treatment experimental group. The present study reports follow-up results measured approximately 1 year after the end of the intervention. Parent ratings and child achievement test scores showed no difference between the two groups. Teachers blind to the condition of the intervention, however, rated experimental children as significantly superior to control children with respect to attention deficit and hyperactivity symptoms (preintervention ratings by teachers on the same variable were statistically controlled). Composite teacher ratings of child behavior also significantly favored the experimental group. Children's improvements in classroom behavior were significantly correlated with improvements parents had shown during the intervention in their behavior toward the children.