Toward evidence-informed child rearing: Measurement of time-out implementation in a community sample

Abstract

Background Time-out (TO) is a widely used parental discipline strategy with strong research support in programmes that promote positive child development. Concerns have been raised, however, regarding adverse impact on child mental health (CMH) in part driven by evidence of widespread variability in appropriate implementation. There are no existing measures of TO. We present the first measure of procedural implementation of TO in a community sample of parents of children aged 6–8 years. Methods A nationally representative sample ( N = 474) of parents completed a survey on the implementation of TO, parent-child relationships, and emotional and behavioural difficulties. The scale of TO use was used to test the convergent validity between TO implementation and parenting practices/family adjustment and CMH. Results Consistent with international research, >70% of parents have used TO with their children. There was high variability in the levels of appropriate implementation of TO. Scale reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) was acceptable and tests of convergent validity indicated that as expected, less appropriate implementation of TO was associated with worse CMH and poorer parenting and family adjustment. Conclusions The current findings suggest that the scale is a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring the appropriate procedural implementation of TO with young children.

Time Out as a Regulated and Specified Element of Child Care Licensing Policy: Are Policies Aligned with the Research Base?

“…Despite its widespread use, and effectiveness, TO is frequently misunderstood and misapplied (Drayton et al, 2014;Gansen, 2021;McLean et al, 2023;Riley et al, 2017). Likewise, children in ECE programs find TO objectionable (Wiltz & Klein, 2001) or ineffective (Ceglowski & Bacigalupa, 2007).…”

“…As a form of exclusionary discipline, TO should be used judiciously, and with fidelity (Mclean et al, 2023). Research has revealed that in ECE programs, exclusionary discipline, including TO, is often used (Zinsser, 2022;Gansen, 2021), but can be applied unequally based on factors such…”

“…Since its emergence, TO has become one of the most widely used and recognized behavioral interventions (Mclean et al, 2023;Ryan et al, 2007). The American Psychological Association (APA) includes TO in their information on effective parenting strategies (Novotney, 2012), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dedicates a section to the use of TO in their "Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers" website (CDC, 2019).…”

“…While TO appears simple, in reality "TO is actually quite complex, consisting of several steps which must be carried out with fidelity" (Drayton et al, 2017, p 92). McLean et al (2023) refer to these as 'evidence-based guidelines' or 'parameters'.…”

“…With minimal preservice educational requirements, which generally do not mandate college-level coursework in child development or ECE, the ECE workforce can be considered a lay workforce (Mayfield & Cho, 2022). In research on the general population, the evidence-based guidelines comprising effective TO are not understood (McLean et al, 2023;Riley et al, 2017). However, creating truly evidence-based regulations will be exceedingly challenging due to the abundance of misinformation available on this subject.…”