Emotion regulation, coercive parenting, and child adjustment: A serial mediation clinical trial.

Abstract

Objective: Prior intent to treat evaluation of the Fathering Through Change (FTC) online interactive behavioral parent training program demonstrated a causal link from the FTC intervention to reductions in pre-post changes in fathers' coercive parenting and, in turn, reductions in pre-post changes in child behavioral problems (a moderate indirect effect size d = .30). The present study expands on this work by investigating mediational mechanisms. Method: The present study employed a sample of 426 recently divorced or separated fathers who were each randomly assigned to either the FTC program or to the wait-list control. We tested a set of intent-to-treat serial mediation hypotheses positing that effects of the FTC on fathers' reductions in coercive parenting would be mediated through reductions in emotion regulation problems. To be included in this intervention, fathers had to have been separated or divorced within the past 2 years and also had to have children between the ages of 4 and 12. Results: The intervention obtained a significant total and set of unique pathways linking the FTC intervention to improved child adjustment. This supports a causal experimental link to reduced child behavior problems (d = .39). Emotion regulation did not fully mediate the intervention effect on parenting. Conclusions: Emotion regulation added both direct and indirect experimental explained variance over and above parenting alone. Clinical implications are discussed for the application of online training through pediatric settings. Implications for Impact StatementFathers are underrepresented in the literature on parenting. This study focused on an online parenting program for divorced fathers of children ages 4 to 12. It found support for a cascade from receiving the parenting program to reduction in fathers' emotion regulation problems, to reduction in coercive parenting, and finally to lowered child adjustment concerns. In addition to providing more knowledge about how parenting programs affect fathers and their children, this study emphasizes the importance of including fathers in parenting interventions.

Incorporating DEI informed-frameworks and increasing access to parent-focused interventions in pediatric psychology.

“…The Fathering Through Change (FTC) program provides behavioral parent training to newly separated or divorced fathers of children ages 4-12 using an online platform (Metcalfe et al (2022). Fathers are underrepresented in parenting studies (Panter-Brick et al, 2014) despite evidence that fathers' approaches to discipline and their own emotion regulation are intrinsically linked to their children's emotional and behavioral functioning (Leidy et al, 2012).…”

“…Our second call sought articles to further highlight the role of pediatric psychology in working with parents while also emphasizing issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and access in parent-focused screening and interventions. The articles included in this special issue: 1) highlight additional efforts to support parents’ unmet needs in medical subspecialty settings (Papadakis et al, 2022; Patten et al, 2022; Wilcocks et al, 2022); 2) utilize a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) framework to develop and adapt interventions specifically designed to support diverse populations (Buckloh et al, 2022; Canter et al, 2022; Damashek et al, 2022; Gillette et al, 2022); and, 3) examine ways to improve access to behavioral health for vulnerable populations through different modes of care (Bono, 2022; Margolis et al, 2022; Metcalfe et al, 2022). A commentary is also included to highlight the real-world impacts of policy on health and outline a variety of advocacy steps for pediatric psychologists working with the families of transgender and gender diverse youth (Kuper et al, 2022).…”