The study also found that families who experienced low levels of social support and high levels of financial hardship usually struggled, even when the number and intensity
of child behaviour problems were low.
Helping parents tackle stress during treatments
for child behaviour problems enhances the outcomes for parents and children, at least in the short term.
Higher levels
of child behaviour problems were associated with more severe parental depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and stress and lower levels of mindful parenting.
Evidence dating back to at least the 1930s linking troubled marriages and
child behaviour problems led to the hypothesis that while some of the association between marital processes and child functioning is direct and unmediated via parenting, 31 some of it derives from the effect of marriage on parenting.6, 32,33,34
If, for example,
child behaviour problems explain heightened levels of psychological distress and coping strategies explain or contribute to resilience, then interventions that effectively ameliorate behaviour problems and / or equip parents with effective coping strategies should reduce psychological distress and family dysfunction.
Method: Outcome measures
included child behaviour problems (externalizing behaviour problems, Attention - Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms and Oppositional Defiant Disorder symptoms) and parenting (self efficacy of parenting and perceived ability to solve difficult parenting situations).
Such behaviours have been found to consistently demonstrate positive associations with stress levels reported by parents raising children with ASD [e.g. 6, 15, 16, 37, 43, 49, 73, 83, 84, 88], with suggestions that child behaviour is the strongest predictor of negative parent outcomes of all child related characteristics (referred to
as child behaviour problems for the remainder of this review).
Results Maternal postnatal depression was significantly associated
with child behaviour problems at age 2, independent of socioeconomic status (β = 0.353, p value = 0.015).
The findings support the efficacy of the PPCP as a community - led intervention with potential to prevent and
interrupt child behaviour problems through supported parenting practice before problems become critical and entrenched.
When a single study provides multiple measures of the same outcome (e.g. two measures are used to
assess child behaviour problems) we will average the effects from the outcomes to arrive at a single effect for use in the meta - analysis.
A third finding, also consistent with previous research, was that controlling for the number and intensity of child behaviour problems [measured using the Developmental Behavior Checklist; 92] reduced the strength of the association between impairment type (diagnosis) and family life congruence to non-significance.
A key research finding is that (a) children with ID are more likely to exhibit internalising and externalising behaviour problems in comparison with typically developing children, and (b) in the absence of
significant child behaviour problems, parents of children with ID do not, on average, report heightened levels of distress [4 •, 16, 27, 28].
While the CBCL is applicable for children aged between 1.5 and 5.5 years [3], the preschool Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and
Rutter Child Behaviour Problem scales are not extended to children under 2 or 3 years of age [4, 5].
Objective To determine whether a structured programme of parent anticipatory guidance «Toddlers Without Tears,» delivered in universal primary care, can prevent
preschool child behaviour problems.
Like child behaviour problems, the majority of studies examining carer and family outcomes indicate a positive association between the severity of a child's ASD symptoms and the stress experienced by family members [e.g. 8 •, 33, 41, 44, 53, 61, 72, 75].
Using mothers» reports of child behaviour and parenting practices, mothers in the SD group reported significantly
less child behaviour problems, less use of dysfunctional discipline strategies, and greater parenting competence than mothers in the WL group.
In a small scale comparative study, Behan et al. (2001) found that parents who completed the original Parents Plus Programme (for parents of children aged 4 - 11 years) reported
fewer child behaviour problems and improved parent - child interaction post-intervention, when compared to a waiting list control group.
Contrary to expectations, preliminary analyses using partial correlations indicated that mindful parenting did not mediate the relationship
between child behaviour problems and parental distress.
Civic, D. and Holt, V.L. (2002) Maternal Depressive Symptoms and
Child Behaviour Problems in a Nationally Representative Normal Birthweight Sample.
In this study, we assessed the effectiveness of a primarily behavioural parenting programme, the Webster - Stratton Parents and Children Series, 18 of proven effectiveness in UK clinical populations, delivered by health visitors in a general practice setting, in terms of its impact
on child behaviour problems and parental mental health.
Enhanced Triple P (Level 5) Parents of children with
concurrent child behaviour problems and family dysfunction such as parental depression or stress or conflict between partners.
These studies have produced evidence consistent with the thesis that
child behaviour problems explain the higher - than - population normal rates of psychological distress and dysfunction found among families caring for a child with ID.
Assessed components of the Double ABCX model
including child behaviour problems, pile - up of demands, social support, appraisal, and coping on maternal depression, social adjustment and health.