Practice Recommendations for 

Family Relations and Parenting 

Skills Interventions

Family relations and parenting skills interventions focus on improving outcomes through enhancing or 

improving parental or family influences on youth, particularly through improved parent-child relationships and 

positive parenting behaviors.

Examples of Family Relations and Parenting Skills Interventions

• Family therapy

• Parenting skills training

• Coping skills training for divorce or other

family issues

• Social support groups for caregivers

Our recommendations are specific to the outcomes that your program is targeting. Below, we present our 

recommendations for improving social competence and improving self-regulation.

Is your program focused on improving social competence?

Social competence refers to the social skills and social adjustment necessary to successfully navigate 

interpersonal relationships and one’s social environment. Examples include cooperation, assertive 

communication, helping others, social awareness, peer acceptance, adaptability, and a sense of belonging.

1

Incorporate opportunities for individualized formats

Family relations and parenting skills interventions delivered primarily in individualized 

sessions with children, parents, or parents and children together showed greater 

improvements in social competence than those using group formats.

2

Increase frequency of sessions over longer periods of time

Family relations and parenting skills interventions that met with participants more than 

once per week and for longer than 10 weeks showed greater improvements in social 

competence than those that did not have this level of intensity. The most successful 

interventions addressed the needs of children and their parents, with services at least 

twice per week for at least several months.

3

Provide opportunities for youth to learn and practice cognitive and 

interpersonal skills

Family relations and parenting skills interventions that included content for children/

adolescents relating to cognitive skills such as problem-solving, cognitive 

restructuring, or interpersonal skills showed greater improvements in social 

competence than those that did not include this content. Ten of these interventions 

included more than one of these content elements.

Visit youth.gov/epi to find evidence-based practice guidelines for youth using a core 

components approach.
Is your program focused on improving self-regulation?

Self-regulation is an individual’s ability to manage one’s emotions and behavior in accordance with the needs 

of the situation. Examples include the ability to calm oneself when upset, to pay attention and persist on a task, 

control impulses, “switch gears” in response to changing demands, and engage in planning prioritizing, and 

juggling multiple tasks toward a goal.

1

Incorporate opportunities for individual formats

Family relations and parenting skills interventions delivered primarily in individualized 

sessions with child and parent(s) together showed greater improvements in children’s 

self-regulation than those using group formats.

2

Include instruction for parents on the use of behavior modification 

strategies

Family relations and parenting skills interventions that used positive reinforcement 

combined with positive and negative punishment showed greater improvements in 

children’s self-regulation than those that did not include either of these techniques 

or only included positive reinforcement.

Evidence for Program Improvement was established by The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation 

(ASPE) to develop evidence-based practice guidelines for youth programs using a core components 

approach. Our goal is to better understand the characteristics of effective programs for youth and share 

guidelines about how to make those programs more effective with those who design, support, and 

implement them. 

Visit our website (https://youth.gov/epi) to learn more about the core components approach and to view our 

practice recommendations.

This document was prepared by Abt Associates under contract number HHSP233201500069I Order No. 

HHSP23337013T from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Any statements expressed are those of the authors and do not 

necessarily reflect the views of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, or the U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services