Bidirectional Relations between Parenting Practices and Child Externalizing Behaviors in Formerly Homeless Families: A Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis

SYNOPSIS

Objective. This study examined the bidirectional relations between effective parenting practices and externalizing problems in children in homeless families. Design. The sample comprised 223 children (M = 8.12 years) in 137 families living in temporary supportive housing, who participated in the Early Risers conduct problems prevention program lasting 2 years. Video-recorded observations of parent-child interactions were collected and rated by trained observers to assess effective parenting practices. Child externalizing problems were reported by their school teachers. Both variables were assessed at baseline prior to intervention and at 1- and 2-year post-baseline. Results. Child externalizing problems at baseline were negatively associated with effective parenting from baseline to year 1 as well as from year 1 to year 2. Observed effective parenting practices at year 1 were negatively associated with child externalizing problems from year 1 to year 2.Conclusions. These findings underscore the presence of bidirectional influence processes between parents and children in high-risk families. Implications for intervention programs for high-risk families are discussed.

ADDRESSES AND AFFILIATIONS

Jingchen Zhang, Department of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota, 290 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108. Email: [email protected]. Sun-Kyung Lee, Timothy F. Piehler, Abigail H. Gewirtz, and Gerald J. August are all at University of Minnesota.

ARTICLE INFORMATION

Conflict of Interest Disclosures

Each author signed a form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No authors reported any financial or other conflicts of interest in relation to the work described.

Ethical Principles

The authors affirm having followed professional ethical guidelines in preparing this work. These guidelines include obtaining informed consent from human participants, maintaining ethical treatment and respect for the rights of human or animal participants, and ensuring the privacy of participants and their data, such as ensuring that individual participants cannot be identified in reported results or from publicly available original or archival data.

Role of the Funders/Sponsors

None of the funders or sponsors of this research had any role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank 16 agencies that comprised the Healthy Families Network for their valuable partnership and all the families who participated in the Early Risers prevention trial.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under Grants [R01MH074610] to Gerald J. August.