A preliminary quasi-experimental, longitudinal study was conducted to explore differences in maternal mood states, self-esteem, family functioning, maternal-infant interaction, and home environment between mothers of preterm infants who participated in a nurse-managed program of parent-to-parent support and those who served as a comparison group. Mothers who participated in the intervention scored significantly higher on the Barnard NCATS interaction measure and the HOME total scale and subscales of maternal responsiveness and organization (N = 58) at 12 months following discharge from a neonatal intensive care unit. Using repeated measures analysis for a subset of mothers (n = 32), there were significant differences between the two groups on the mood state anxiety-tension (POMS) during the first 4 months postdischarge, with the treatment group having less anxiety. There was also a group by time interaction effect on self-esteem during the first 4 months, with self-esteem of the treatment group mothers increasing and comparison mothers decreasing. Findings suggest that one-to-one veteran parent support, in a nurse-managed program, may influence maternal and maternal-infant interaction outcomes.

This article provides an overview of the Perinatal Positive Parenting program (PPP). This primary prevention program, developed at the Institute for Family and Child Study at Michigan State University, was designed to meet the parenting support and informational needs of first‐time parents. The basic tenets of the PPP program are discussed and overviews of the in‐hospital, at home, and parents' support group functions are provided. The evaluations of the primary demonstration of PPP are presented and the PPP videotapes and other materials developed for use with program participants are outlined.

Little is known about what today's new parents believe about parenting. A team of seven researchers from six midwestern universities have initiated a longitudinal investigation of rural and urban parents' beliefs concerning ideal and actual parenting practices. This article describes the research and the development of the Inventory of Parenting Behavior, a Q‐Sort measure developed by the project team specifically for this study.

Test-retest reliability on the Q-Sort Inventory of Parenting Behaviors was obtained by using a sample of 30 mothers of 3-year-old children. The inventory consists of 72 statements, each of which describes a different parenting behavior and utilizes a forced-choice format. Mothers independently sorted the statements into nine ordered categories along a continuum from "most like me" to "least like me" and repeated the sort 2 weeks later. Analysis of variance and Pearson product-moment correlations indicated that the within-subject correlation between first and second sorts was .72. Of this total variability, .37 was common to all mothers. This variability was probably engendered by variance in social desirability of the items. Of the variance, 35% was due to reliable differences among respondents in the profile of item responses.

In an earlier article (Boger, Richter, & Weatherston, 1983) the Perinatal Positive Parenting Program (PPP) was outlined. The basic tenets of the PPP program were discussed, and an overview of the in‐hospital, at‐home, and parents' support group components was provided. This article presents the results of a 15‐month follow‐up evaluation of treatment and control participants in the initial PPP demonstration.