A Randomized Trial of Parentcorps: Strengthening Parenting and Preventing Conduct Problems in Low-Income, Urban Neighborhoods

Few parents receive evidence-based support for parenting, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods where poverty-related stressors deplete parenting resources and disrupt children’s development. This study examined the impact of ParentCorps, an early childhood school-based, family-focused intervention designed to attenuate the multiple risks associated with urban poverty and social disadvantage.

ParentCorps is a culturally-informed, universal intervention (for all children enrolled in an early childhood program) designed to promote positive behavior supports for children at home and in the classroom and to foster parent involvement in education. ParentCorps includes a series of integrated strategies: professional development for early childhood teachers and a group-based intervention for families of pre-kindergarten (pre-k) students (13 2-hour sessions) co-led by mental health professionals and early childhood teachers. Groups are held at the child’s school typically 5-7 pm.

Ten schools in a large urban school district, serving low-income minority students, were randomly assigned to ParentCorps or education-as-usual. In four consecutive years, 88% of the pre-k population (N=1050) was enrolled. Parenting was assessed by multiple methods across three domains: Positive Behavior Support (test of knowledge, support for behavior, support for emotions), Parent Involvement in Education (teacher ratings of school-based involvement, parent ratings of school- and home-based involvement), and Harsh and Inconsistent Discipline. Parenting and child behavior were assessed three times from pre-k entry to the end of kindergarten.

In intervention schools, nearly 100% of teachers participated in professional development; family engagement in ParentCorps was high (> 60%) and comparable for families at varying levels of baseline risk (e.g., poverty, parenting, child dysregulation). Parents in ParentCorps schools showed significant and sustained improvements in Positive Behavior Supports (knowledge, support for behavior) and Parent Involvement in Education (teacher ratings). Parents who initially reported lower levels of parenting resources showed additional gains (support for emotions, parent ratings of involvement), relative to controls. Finally, among the subgroup of children who were behaviorally dysregulated at baseline, ParentCorps resulted in significant and sustained reductions in Harsh and Inconsistent Discipline among parents of boys and girls and prevention of Serious Conduct Problems among boys. Together with previously reported effects on child physical health and academic achievement test scores, ParentCorps appears to have potential to contribute to national efforts to improve public health through strategic investment in families of young children.