Probing the Continuum of Effectiveness in Parent Training: Characteristics of Parents and Preschoolers

Abstract

Examined the background and observational records of 158 mothers and their children who began a behaviorally oriented training program for child noncompliance. Clients were from a heterogeneous urban population. The key parent and child characteristics found to be related to completing the program and to speed of progress through the training were social status, ethnic group, number of presenting problems, initial levels of child compliance, and child's age at intake. It was concluded that training programs should identify the characteristics of clients associated with different parts of the continuum of training effectiveness to anticipate and provide additional assistance to those likely to drop out or progress slowly.