The Efficacy of Parent Training for Promoting Positive Parent—Toddler Relationships

Abstract

The effectiveness of a parent training program for promoting positive parent‐child relationships was examined among families of 2‐year‐olds. Forty‐six mothers and fathers and their toddlers were assigned to either an intervention or comparison group. Intervention group parents participated in a 10‐week program that focused on principles for effectively interacting with their toddlers. Parents completed measures of parenting self‐efficacy, depression, stress, and perceptions of their toddler's behaviors and were videotaped playing with their toddlers preintervention, postintervention, and 3 months following the intervention. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed that the parent training program led to significant increases in maternal self‐efficacy, decreases in maternal stress, and improvements in the quality of mother‐toddler interactions. No significant effects were found among fathers. Explanations for obtaining different outcomes for mothers and fathers are discussed and directions for future research are recommended. ©1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.