Enhancing parenting practices of at-risk mothers.
This study evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve early parenting by increasing understanding of infant developmental needs and promoting maternal responsiveness as indicated by increased positive behavior support for infants and decreased psychological control. At-risk mothers were randomly assigned to control or treatment conditions, the latter consisting of training in parental responsiveness, developmental knowledge, and loving touch. Following the intervention, treatment mothers reduced their controlling tendencies; they were less rigid, less intrusive, and more flexible than control mothers. Treatment mothers provided more parental support indicated by higher quality verbalizations, more demonstrative teaching, and lower role-reversal tendencies. Editors' Strategic Implications: Further replication will be necessary, but the results for the "My Baby and Me" program are promising. The authors provide crucial information for parent educators about the pairing of basic knowledge transfer with the active engagement of parents with their infants in practicing new parenting skills.
Department of Human Development Connecticut College, Connecticut College, Box 5303 270 Mohegan Ave, New London, CT, 06320, USA. cakai@conncoll.edu
Carol E
CE
Akai
Cathy L
CL
Guttentag
Kathleen M
KM
Baggett
Christine C Willard
CC
Noria
D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007224:Infant Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016896:Treatment Outcome