Children and Youth Services Review | 2019
Parent training: Effects beyond conduct problems
Abstract
Abstract The Parent Management Training - Oregon model (PMTO) and the adaption of PMTO, the Brief Parent Training (BPT), are two versions of parent management training, proven effective to reduce emerging or present child conduct problems through modifying child-parent interaction. Research, however, indicates substantial comorbidity between high levels of conduct problems, low social competence, and depression/anxiety. The aim of this study was to examine to what extent PMTO and BPT have treatment effects beyond conduct problems, that is, additionally reduce the level of depression/anxiety and increase social competence. We investigated cross-domain effects in two independent randomized-controlled samples, receiving either PMTO or BPT, which differed with regard to treatment mode, intensity, and target groups. Participants (BPT: N\u202f=\u202f216, PMTO: N\u202f=\u202f137) were Norwegian parents of children (age 3–12) with emerging or present conduct problems, randomly assigned to either the intervention or control condition. Results showed that both BPT and PMTO reduced conduct problems and increased social competence, but only BPT reduced the level of depression/anxiety. Implications and limitations of the results are discussed.