Citation

Menting ATA, Orobio de Castro B, Wijngaards-de Meij LD, Matthys W. J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol. 2014; 43(3): 381-396.

Affiliation

a Developmental Psychology and Utrecht Centre for Child and Adolescent Studies , Utrecht University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15374416.2013.817310

PMID

23915290

Abstract

Children of incarcerated mothers are considered at risk for disruptive behavior problems and later delinquency. Parenting may play a key role in this intergenerational transmission of delinquency. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Incredible Years parent training, enhanced with home visits, for (formerly) incarcerated mothers to prevent disruptive behavior problems in their 2- to 10-year-old children, by means of a nationwide randomized controlled trial. Mothers of 133 children (M age = 76.91 months; 48.9% boys) were assigned to an intervention, consisting of group sessions and individual home visits, or a no-intervention control group. The intervention yielded significant effects on parenting and child behavior for maternal report. Marginally significant effects on child behavior were found for teacher report. The results show short-term effectiveness of parent training for the high-risk and hard-to-reach population of (formerly) incarcerated mothers and their children.

Language: en