One Family at a Time: A Prevention Program for At‐Risk Parents

Maccoby and Martin (1983) suggested that parents and children influence each other in a reciprocal manner. For example, as children s challenging behaviors increase in frequency and intensity, some parents may reciprocate with harsher discipline to reestablish parent control. Unfortunately, such negative feedback loops, characterized by harsh and inconsistent discipline, tend to increase child behavior problems rather than decrease them (Reid & Patterson, 1991). If continued over the long term, these negative parenting practices can contribute to poor child behavior outcomes. For example, Brenner and Fox (1998) found that increased child behavior problems were best predicted by parents' use of verbal and corporal punishment. Likewise, children disciplined more harshly have been found to be at greater risk for developing mental health problems (Deater-Deckard & Dodge, 1997; Reid & Patterson, 1991), such as antisocial behavior (Takeucki, Williams, & Adair, 1991) and conduct disorder (Velez, Johnson, & Cohen, 1989). Negative parenting practices are determined by multiple factors (Belsky, 1990). Fox, Platz, and Bentley (1995) found that younger, single, less-educated, and lower income mothers tended to use relatively high levels of verbal and corporal punishment when parenting their young children. More specifically, poverty has been shown to contribute to harsh and inconsistent parenting, a lack of nurturing and warmth, and a greater potential for child abuse (Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 1994). One explanation for the relationship between poverty and parenting is that the stress of living in poverty may negatively influence a mother's or father's ability to spend the additional time and energy necessary to positively interact with their child (McLeod & Shanahan, 1993). Regardless, poverty is a risk factor for both negative parenting practices and poor child outcomes. The goal of many psychoeducational parenting programs has been to break the cycle of negative parent-child interactions leading to behavior problems, by teaching parents alternatives to harsh punishment as well as specific skills to positively nurture their children. Cognitive-behavioral methods have emerged as the most effective interventions for working with behavior problems in children (Rogers-Wiese, 1992). Problems such as child noncompliance (Rotto & Kratochwill, 1994), conduct disorder (Webster-Stratton, 1994), behavioral and emotional problems (Strayhorn & Weidman, 1991), and difficult temperaments (Sheeber & Johnson, 1994) have been successfully changed using programs that address parenting practices. Unfortunately, many of these programs have been offered in office or university-based settings and have focused on predominately White, middle-class families whose children had already developed significant behavior problems. Despite research suggesting the connection between harsh parenting practices, poverty, and child behavior problems, relatively little attention has been devoted to bringing these programs, effective with other populations, to low-income families. One exception was a recent study by Webster-Stratton (1998). Families of Head Start children participated in an empirically supported psychoeducational parenting program aimed at preventing conduct disorders in children. Compared with a control group, parents participating in this program significantly improved their parenting and also increased their involvement in their child's educational process. Results were maintained over a 1-year period. The STAR Parenting Program is another example of a effective with a diverse group of parents. Developed by Fox and Fox (1992), the program integrates cognitive-behavioral, developmental, and social-learning theories to help parents of young children thoughtfully respond rather than emotionally react to their young children's challenging behavior. …