Life Satisfaction Moderates the Effectiveness of a Play-Based Parenting Intervention in Low-Income Mothers and Toddlers

Abstract

This multi-method multi-trait study examined moderators and mediators of change in the context of a parenting intervention. Low-income, diverse mothers of toddlers (average age 30 months; N=186, 90 girls) participated in a play-based intervention (Child-Oriented Play versus Play-as-Usual) aimed at increasing children's committed compliance and reducing opposition toward their mothers, observed in prohibition contexts, and at reducing mother-rated children's behavior problems 6 months after the intervention. Mothers’ subjective sense of life satisfaction and fulfillment during the intervention and objective ratings of psychosocial functioning by clinicians, obtained in a clinical interview were posed as moderators, and mothers’ observed power-assertive discipline immediately following the intervention was modeled as a mediator of its impact. We tested moderated mediation using structural equation modeling, with all baseline scores (prior to randomization) controlled. Mothers’ subjective sense of life satisfaction moderated the impact of the intervention, but clinicians’ ratings did not. For mothers highly satisfied with their lives, participating in Child-Oriented Play group, compared to Play-as-Usual group, led to a reduction in power-assertive discipline which, in turn, led to children's increased compliance and decreased opposition and externalizing problems. There were no effects for mothers who reported low life satisfaction. The study elucidates the causal sequence set in motion by the intervention, demonstrates the moderating role of mothers’ subjective life satisfaction, highlights limitations of clinicians’ ratings, and informs future prevention and intervention efforts to promote adaptive parenting.

Sustaining Engagement in Longitudinal Research With Vulnerable Families: A Mixed-Methods Study of Attrition

“…It is a difficult task to raise a child in a lone-caregiver family, especially if financial concerns are a daily struggle. Parents who miss appointments, or appear unengaged or not attentive to their children, are at higher risk of attrition (Brock, Kochanska, O’Hara, & Grekin, 2015; Gross, Julion, & Fogg, 2001; Holland, Christensen, Shone, Kearney, & Kitzman, 2014; Jordan, Tseng, Coombs, Kennedy, & Borland, 2014). The qualitative theme of caregiver–child relationship difficulties also suggests that many families were experiencing struggles at this level of Maslow’s Hierarchy.…”

(Positive) power to the child: The role of children's willing stance toward parents in developmental cascades from toddler age to early preadolescence

“…To design interventions that target children's willing stance, we need to understand better the parent's and the child's characteristics that might moderate their effectiveness. For example, in the aforementioned study that implemented child-oriented play, the intervention led to increased willing stance in dyads in which mothers reported high life satisfaction but not in those in which mothers felt relatively unhappy and unfulfilled (Brock, Kochanska, O'Hara, & Grekin, 2015). Child temperament, particularly positive emotionality, may play an important role in the development of willing stance.…”

Toward a developmentally informed approach to parenting interventions: Seeking hidden effects

“…Note that we are not claiming that the present approach ought to invalidate and replace traditional group analyses of intervention efficacy. We have previously successfully implemented the traditional approach (e.g., Brock, Kochanska, O'Hara, & Grekin, 2015; Kochanska et al, 2013). Rather, we propose that the method illustrated in the present preliminary report has promise as a developmentally informed approach for identifying potential effects of a parenting intervention on dyadic processes linked to key outcomes.…”