The Moderating Effects of Family Structure on the Family Check-up: Comparisons Between Mother, Mother-Father, and Mother-Alternate Caregiver Participating Families

Parent training programs (PTPs) improve child problem behaviors (Sandler et al., 2015). However, PTPs disproportionately focus on engaging and changing mothers’parenting practices, despite evidence that the effects of PTPs are more favorable and likely to be sustained when both mothers and fathers participate (Bagner & Eyberg, 2003; Fabiano, 2007) . A reason for this finding may be that when two parents particpate, they are able to support each other in using new parenting skills consistently. In many families, child rearing responsibilities extend beyond the mother and father (e..g, grandmother); consistent with an ecological systems framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1992), the effects of PTPs may also be enhanced when these alternate caregivers (AC) participate. This study addresses a gap in the literature by examining if the structure of particpating families (i.e., mother only, M; mother-father, MF; mother-alternate caregiver, M-AC) moderates the effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) on child problem behaviors (CPBs). We hypothesize that FCU’s effects on CPBs are more robust when mothers participate with the child’s father (i.e., bio, step, adopted) or an AC, compared to when they participate alone. The FCU is a brief, strengths-based, assessment-driven intervention designed to prevent CPBs by improving parenting and family management. This study also examines whether the moderating effects of family structure on CPBs are explained by mothers’ use of a FCU-targeted parenting skill, positive behavior support (PBS).

Methods. The sample includes families (n=731) that participated in a multisite randomized control trial of the FCU (Dishion et al., 2008; Shaw et al., 2006). Assessments were conducted in-home annually from ages 2 (pretest) through 5. PBS scores were a composite based on in-home direct observation of parenting; scores were consistent with the strategy used by Dishion et al. (2008). The Child Behavior Checklist assessed the outcome, CPBs at age 5 (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001).

Results. Preliminary descriptive analyses indicate adequate subsample sizes for each family structure (i.e., M= 329; M/F = 231; M-AC = 153), and there is evidence that the effects of interparental relational dynamics (e..g, social support) affect child outcomes in this sample (Linville et al., 2010; McEachern, 2013). Primary analyses testing study hypotheses are in progress.

Discussion. The results of this study will inform recruitment strategies for the FCU and PTPs more broadly. Results supporting the study’s hypotheses would advocate extending recruitment efforts beyond mothers to fathers as well as to alternate caregivers could sustain effects of the FCU on mothers’ parenting practices, which in turn could sustain the FCU’s effects on child problem behaviors.