TY - JOUR
T1 - Life Satisfaction Moderates the Effectiveness of a Play-Based Parenting Intervention in Low-Income Mothers and Toddlers
AU - Brock, Rebecca L.
AU - Kochanska, Grazyna
AU - O’Hara, Michael W.
AU - Grekin, Rebecca S.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by grants from NICHD (R01 HD069171), NIMH (R01 MH63096), and a Stuit Professorship (to G.K.). We thank the many students and staff members for their help with data collection, coding, and file creation, including Jarilyn Akabogu, Lea Boldt, Sanghag Kim, Jessica O’Bleness, and Jeung Eun Yoon for help with data collection, coding, and file management; Kristian Markon and Rick Hoyle for statistical consultation; Mark Greenberg for guidance on issues of intervention; and the participants in Play Study for their commitment to this research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2015/10/10
Y1 - 2015/10/10
N2 - This multi-method multi-trait study examined moderators and mediators of change in the context of a parenting intervention. Low-income, diverse mothers of toddlers (average age 30 months; N = 186, 90 girls) participated in a play-based intervention (Child-Oriented Play versus Play-as-Usual) aimed at increasing children’s committed compliance and reducing opposition toward their mothers, observed in prohibition contexts, and at reducing mother-rated children’s behavior problems 6 months after the intervention. Mothers’ subjective sense of life satisfaction and fulfillment during the intervention and objective ratings of psychosocial functioning by clinicians, obtained in a clinical interview were posed as moderators, and mothers’ observed power-assertive discipline immediately following the intervention was modeled as a mediator of its impact. We tested moderated mediation using structural equation modeling, with all baseline scores (prior to randomization) controlled. Mothers’ subjective sense of life satisfaction moderated the impact of the intervention, but clinicians’ ratings did not. For mothers highly satisfied with their lives, participating in Child-Oriented Play group, compared to Play-as-Usual group, led to a reduction in power-assertive discipline which, in turn, led to children’s increased compliance and decreased opposition and externalizing problems. There were no effects for mothers who reported low life satisfaction. The study elucidates the causal sequence set in motion by the intervention, demonstrates the moderating role of mothers’ subjective life satisfaction, highlights limitations of clinicians’ ratings, and informs future prevention and intervention efforts to promote adaptive parenting.
AB - This multi-method multi-trait study examined moderators and mediators of change in the context of a parenting intervention. Low-income, diverse mothers of toddlers (average age 30 months; N = 186, 90 girls) participated in a play-based intervention (Child-Oriented Play versus Play-as-Usual) aimed at increasing children’s committed compliance and reducing opposition toward their mothers, observed in prohibition contexts, and at reducing mother-rated children’s behavior problems 6 months after the intervention. Mothers’ subjective sense of life satisfaction and fulfillment during the intervention and objective ratings of psychosocial functioning by clinicians, obtained in a clinical interview were posed as moderators, and mothers’ observed power-assertive discipline immediately following the intervention was modeled as a mediator of its impact. We tested moderated mediation using structural equation modeling, with all baseline scores (prior to randomization) controlled. Mothers’ subjective sense of life satisfaction moderated the impact of the intervention, but clinicians’ ratings did not. For mothers highly satisfied with their lives, participating in Child-Oriented Play group, compared to Play-as-Usual group, led to a reduction in power-assertive discipline which, in turn, led to children’s increased compliance and decreased opposition and externalizing problems. There were no effects for mothers who reported low life satisfaction. The study elucidates the causal sequence set in motion by the intervention, demonstrates the moderating role of mothers’ subjective life satisfaction, highlights limitations of clinicians’ ratings, and informs future prevention and intervention efforts to promote adaptive parenting.
KW - Child outcomes
KW - Life satisfaction
KW - Maternal power assertion
KW - Moderated mediation
KW - Parenting intervention
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U2 - 10.1007/s10802-015-0014-y
DO - 10.1007/s10802-015-0014-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 25860810
AN - SCOPUS:84941026801
SN - 0091-0627
VL - 43
SP - 1283
EP - 1294
JO - Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
JF - Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
IS - 7
ER -