Training for Effective Parenting

Abstract

This brief entry focuses on parent-training programs or programs that include a parent-training component (For a more comprehensive review, see Mulford and Redding 2008). Parent training is consistently highlighted as one of the most effective means of treating young children with conduct problems (Kazdin 2005), and it has proven to be one of the most cost-effective interventions for doing so (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2001). There is, however, far less evidence supporting the efficacy of parent-training programs with adolescents and justice-involved youth. Nonetheless, it still seems to be one of the more promising methods for treating the behavior problems of justice-involved youth, especially when used in conjunction with other carefully selected program components. “Many researchers believe that improving parenting practices is the most effective strategy for reducing delinquency and associated problem behaviors,” and for this reason, “strengthen[ing] families is a linchpin” in the delinquency prevention strategy of the US Department of Justice (Kumpfer and Alvarado 1998, p. 3).This entry begins with an overview of parent training, highlighting the key components of successful programs. (It does not review parent education programs that do not specifically address behavioral training for parents, such as programs that teach parents to be advocates for their children or that educate parents about child development and other parenting issues. Such programs have proliferated throughout the past three decades, but evaluation research is scarce. The evaluations of education programs often focus on attitudinal changes, rather than behavioral changes, which are not produced through education alone.) Also discussed is research on the efficacy of parent training in the treatment of behavior problems among children and adolescents, particularly the differential impact of parental-training programs with specific groups of youths and families. We then focus on the ways in which parent training has been combined with other interventions. Six model programs – Functional Family Therapy (FFT), Multisystemic Therapy (MST), Parenting with Love and Limits (PLL), the Positive Family Support (PFS), the Strengthening Families Program (SFP), and the New Beginnings Program (NBP) – are highlighted to provide examples of promising programs that include parent-training components with adolescents.