Parental Reactions to Toddlers' Disruptive Behavior (1 CE)

Number of Credits: 1

This course is for: Clinical Psychologists, Counselors, and Marriage & Family Therapists

Course By: Ken Springer, PhD

Content By: Schulz, S., Leijten, P., Shaw, D. S., & Overbeek, G. (2019). Parental reactivity to disruptive behavior in toddlerhood: An experimental study. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47, 779-790.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-018-0489-4

Course Description: Studies show that children's disruptive behaviors may increase their parents' use of negative or inconsistent parenting strategies, and that these strategies may inadvertently reinforce the disruptive behaviors. However, the specific mechanisms through which disruptive child behavior affects parenting are not well-understood. The present study used an experimental approach to determine how a challenging parenting situation affected parents' self-efficacy and stress levels, and whether parents' behavior toward their two-year-old children subsequently changed. Each parent was assigned to either a control condition, in which they and their child engaged in free play with toys, or an experimental condition, which introduced challenges such as preventing the child from playing with the toys while still visible. The researchers found that compared to the control group, parents in the experimental group exhibited less state self-efficacy and more stress. These effects were particularly strong among parents who had low levels of trait self-efficacy, but not among parents with high levels of trait stress. The results suggest that parenting interventions should not focus solely on teaching parenting skills, but should also seek to promote self-efficacy in challenging parenting situations.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the rationale for the study and the experimental methods through which data were collected
2. Describe the main findings of the study concerning the impact of parenting challenges on parents' self-efficacy and levels of stress
3. Integrate the strengths and limitations of the study, and summarize the practical implications for supporting positive parenting strategies

Course Outline:

• Read and understand Parental reactivity to disruptive behavior in toddlerhood: An experimental study
• Review the Course Description and Learning Objectives
• Understand the rationale for examining the impact of children's disruptive behavior on parental self-efficacy and stress levels
• Understand the experimental design and procedure, as well as the approach to measuring parental self-efficacy and stress levels
• Analyze the differences between the experimental and control groups in state self-efficacy and distress, as well as how these differences were influenced by trait characteristics
• Integrate the study's key findings, strengths, limitations, and practical implications
• Work through the post-test questions, using the article as the sole basis for your answers
• Revisit the article for any missed questions and/or to better understand how disruptive child behavior can affect parental self-efficacy and levels of stress

Approvals: