Parent partnership program: Preventing childhood psychopathology by reducing familial hostility

Childhood mental illness afflicts 21% of all children in the U.S.; however, it has been posited that these children can experience symptom reduction with early detection and prevention (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). A secure bond between a caregiver and child is believed to be a protective factor that can reduce the effects of mental illness, and in some cases, prevent mental illness from surfacing (Bowlby, 1984). Positive interactions and parental attunement are the hallmarks of a securely attached relationship. Conversely, insecure attachments are characterized by hostility and noted to be particularly damaging to a child's physical and emotional development (Stocker & Youngblade, 1999). The present study examined if reducing the amount of hostility expressed in caregiver-child relationships would increase positive interactions and parental attunement. A modified version of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT; Hembree-Kigin & Bodiford McNeil, 1995) delivered in a parent training group coupled with an early intervention program at a local Early Head Start program was utilized to achieve these ends. The Emotional Availability Scale (Biringen, Robinson, & Emde, 1998) and the Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI; Bavolek & Keene, 2001) were used to measure the following outcomes after completion of Parent Partnership Program: a reduction in the amount of hostility expressed in the dyad, an increase in the security of attachment experienced by the child, an improvement in caregiver self-perception of parenting skills, and a reduced expression of hostility that may predict an increase in caregiver attunement to child. Although significant group changes were not found, a number of important individual effects were found when individual cases from this sample were examined.