Parenting Wisely: The Longitudinal Maintenance of Family, Parenting, and Adolescent Program Effects Six Months Later

Background: Parenting Wisely (PW) is an interactive computer-based program designed to improve family communication and parenting by teaching parent’s disciplinary strategies for adolescent behavior management. PW can be administered individually, in a group setting, or to parents and adolescents together. Minimal existing PW research has examined program effects in rural areas or if the delivery method of the program impacts outcomes. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness of PW in a rural sample six months following the intervention and to assess the differences based on delivery format: (a) a parents-only 1- to 2-day workshop, (b) a parents and adolescents 5-week group, (c) a parents-only 5-week group, and (d) a self-paced online format for individual parent–adolescent dyads.

Methods: The current sample was comprised of 364 low-income, rural parents. The sample was exceptionally racially diverse and 46% identified as American Indian, 36% as African American, 6% as Hispanic/Latino, 7% as White, and 4% as mixed race. Five subscales from the McMaster Family Assessment Device (i.e., problem solving, family roles, affective involvement, behavior control, and general family functioning) were used to measure family processes. In addition, parenting measures (i.e., parenting sense of competence, parenting self-efficacy, and parent-adolescent conflict) and adolescent behavior measures (i.e., violent and aggressive behavior) were collected. Individual growth models and difference-in-difference regression models were estimated to evaluate the impact of the PW program between pre-test, post-test, and 6-month follow-up.

Results: Compared to the comparison group, parents who participated in PW reported increases in confidence in parenting skills (standardized effect β=0.30; p=.004) and decreases in parent-adolescent conflict (β= -0.30; p=.001), as well as decreases in adolescent aggression (β=-0.27; p=.001), and violent behaviors (β=-0.22; p=.008) between pretest and 6-month follow-up. PW effectiveness did not vary by delivery format, except for the brief workshop format, which was less effective compared to other formats.

Discussion: The current study examined longer-term effects of PW on family, parenting, and adolescent behavior in a racially diverse, rural sample. Past research on PW has neglected to assess program maintenance over time. The findings suggest that although PW offers flexibility in terms of delivery format, practitioners should implement the program with adequate time, activities, and interactions with staff to allow for new skills to develop. Overall, PW has the potential to improve family functioning, which benefits adolescent development and functioning across ecological levels.