title: Tracing changes in families who participated in the home-start parenting program: parental sense of competence as mechanism of change.
abstract: The present study aimed to (1) determine the long-term effectiveness of Home-Start, a preventive parenting program, and (2) test the hypothesis that changes in maternal sense of competence mediate the program's effects. Participants were 124 mothers (n = 66 intervention, n = 58 comparison). Four assessments took place during a 1-year period. Latent growth modeling showed that Home-Start enhanced growth in maternal sense of competence and supportive parenting, and led to a decrease in the use of inept discipline. Results of mediational and cross-lagged analyses were consistent with the hypothesized model: Participation in Home-Start was related to the changes in maternal sense of competence, which in turn predicted changes in parenting. The results affirm the importance of directly targeting parental sense of competence in the context of prevention work with parents.
authors.affiliation: Utrecht University, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. M.Dekovic@uu.nl
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deković
authors.forename: Jessica J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Asscher
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hermanns
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reitz
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Prinzie
authors.forename: Alithe L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: van den Akker
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D016487:Parenting; D020377:Self Efficacy