The impact of parenting education on parent and child behaviors: Moderators by income and ethnicity

• Published in: Children and youth services review 2016-12, Vol.71, p.199-209
• Main Authors: Finders, Jennifer K., Díaz, Guadalupe, Geldhof, G. John, Sektnan, Michaella, Rennekamp, Denise
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavior; Childrearing practices; Children; Ethnicity; Evidence-based parenting education; Evidence-based practice; Families & family life; Higher education; Hispanic Americans; Latino families; Low income groups; Low-income families; Moderators; Multilevel modeling; Parenthood education; Parenting; Parenting skills; Parents & parenting; Professional training; Skills; Sociodemographics; Underserved populations
• ISSN: 0190-7409; 1873-7765
• DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.11.006

Parenting education has emerged as a promising resource for supporting parents, but the relative impact of parenting education among families facing higher versus lower risk remains unclear. The present study explored the effects of participating in an evidence-based parenting education series and examined whether those effects were moderated by families' socio-demographic contexts (income level and ethnicity status). Results indicated that parenting education series serving predominantly lower-income parents resulted in greater improvements in parents' parenting skills and their children's behaviors compared to series serving higher-income parents. Attending a parenting series with a higher proportion of Latino parents also significantly predicted greater improvements in child behaviors, but not parent skills. These findings provide preliminary evidence that parenting education may be most effective when it targets underserved populations. The findings further highlight the importance of continuing to explore the influence of parenting education adapted for low-income and Latino families to inform the design of evidence-based programs. •This study examined the impact of general evidence-based parenting education on diverse families.•Parenting series serving predominantly lower-income parents resulted in greater gains in parent skills and child behaviors.•Parenting series serving predominantly Latino parents resulted in greater gains in child behaviors, not parent skills.•These results provide preliminary evidence that parenting education may be most effective targeting underserved populations.•Our findings can inform the delivery of scalable evidence-based parenting education programs to diverse families.