Abstract
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMC) focuses on enhancing adults’ (e.g., parents) skills and abilities in order to improve children’s behavior. Limited research has examined parenting factors as mechanisms of change, which is important given the bidirectional nature of parent-child interactions. Parenting stress and its influence on children’s behavioral outcomes (behavior problems and protective factors) were investigated following the implementation of an Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) program. Participants included parents that participated in the ECMHC program (n = 247) and a comparison group (n = 72) in the Midwest. Overall, parents in the ECMHC group experienced fewer dysfunctional parent-child interactions and less distress. Results indicated that parent-child dysfunctional interactions mediated the relationship between ECMHC and children’s behavior problems (CI = .001, .038) and protective factors (CI = -.061, -.001). Parental distress did not mediate the relationship between ECMHC and children’s behavior problems (CI = -.001, .016) or protective factors (CI = -.020, .001). Understanding the influence of stress and parent-child interactions is beneficial as these may be malleable and responsive to change if targeted in intervention. Examining mechanisms of change related to parents will allow for refinement of services and improved behavioral outcomes for children.
Highlights
Behavior problems exhibited by young children often lead to difficulties and dysfunction in adolescence and adulthood (Fergusson, Horwood, & Ridder, 2005)
When parents rated more Parental Distress and Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interactions, they rated their children as exhibiting more behavior problems and fewer protective factors
In examining the indirect effects on children’s total protective factors, the results showed that the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) group had a negative direct effect on Parental Distress (β = -.11, p < .05) and Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction (β = -.18, p < .01)
Summary
Behavior problems exhibited by young children often lead to difficulties and dysfunction in adolescence and adulthood (Fergusson, Horwood, & Ridder, 2005). ECMHC is an indirect problem-solving approach to intervening with young children (ages birth to 6 years), their families, and other adult care providers (Cohen & Kaufman, 2000). This problem-solving approach is developed and implemented collaboratively by a consultant, individuals with other areas of expertise, such as a childcare provider or preschool teacher, and the caregivers of the target child. The most common type of consultation, child- or family-centered consultation, focuses on impacting childcare factors and family factors that may be contributing to or maintaining the child’s challenging behavior This is advantageous in that it considers multiple ecologies affecting a child by incorporating important adults in a collaborative problem-solving approach
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