Intervention-Induced Temperament Changes in Children: Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial of the Incredible Years Parent Program

• Published in: Developmental psychology 2023-10, Vol.59 (10), p.1839-1851
• Main Authors: Huijzer-Engbrenghof, Marijke, van Rijn-van Gelderen, Loes, van den Akker, Alithe, Jorgensen, Terrence D., Overbeek, Geertjan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavior Change; Behavior Problems; Change; Child Behavior; Child Rearing; Children; Children & youth; Clinical trials; Disruptive behaviour; Emotionality; Evidence; Female; Foreign Countries; Human; Intervention; Male; Mothers; Negative Emotions; Parent Education; Parent Training; Parenthood education; Parenting; Parenting Skills; Parents; Parents & parenting; Personality; Program Effectiveness; Randomized Controlled Trials; Self regulation; Susceptibility; Temperament
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/dev0001591

Child temperament has long been viewed as a potential susceptibility factor in the link between parenting and child disruptive behavior (CDB). Specifically, the idea is that children with higher negative emotionality, surgency, and lower effortful control are more affected by their received parenting, but experimental evidence is scarce. Also, others have argued that child temperament might not be a susceptibility factor but a factor that can change through parents' participation in a parenting intervention. To test both hypotheses, we analyzed pretest, posttest, and 4-month follow-up data from 386 mostly Dutch parents, mainly mothers (92%; Mage = 38.1, SD = 4.8) with children (Mage = 6.31, SD = 1.33; 54.2% boys). The children had above-average disruptive behavior (i.e., ≥75th percentile Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory questionnaire; Eyberg & Pincus, 1999). The families participated in a randomized controlled trial of the Incredible Years (IY) parenting program. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that child temperament did not moderate IY intervention effects on CDB. Furthermore, parallel process analyses showed that the IY intervention led to direct, simultaneous decreases in both negative emotionality and CDB. These findings counter the widely held belief that temperament traits are static, unchangeable modulators of the links between parenting and CDB. Instead, child temperament (negative emotionality) can at least partly be influenced by parents' participation in a parenting program. Public Significance StatementIn this randomized controlled trial of the Incredible Years (IY) parenting intervention, we found that the intervention is effective, regardless of child temperament (i.e., negative emotionality, effortful control, and surgency). We did, however, find a first indication that child temperament, like disruptive behavior, may itself change as an outcome of a parenting intervention. These findings indicate that the trait of negative emotionality can be influenced by parents' participation in the IY parenting program.