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Parents’ Self-Efficacy and Children’s Behavioral Problems Before and After SNAP: A Community-Based Intervention Program

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Abstract

The Stop Now and Plan (SNAP) intervention program is designed specifically for children with serious conduct problems and their families. The program also focuses on improving parents’ self-efficacy (PSE). The purpose of this study was to examine how the program impacts children’s behavior problems and PSE, and to explore the bidirectional longitudinal associations between children’s antisocial behaviors and their parents’ self-efficacy. Our study included 62 boys and 18 girls with mean age of 8.2 years old (SD = 1.8, range from 6 to 12 years) and their parents or caregivers. For each family, one parent or caregiver was asked to complete the psychometrics assessments even if both parents participated in the SNAP program. The following assessment tools were used in the pre- and post-tests: The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher Report Form (TRF), Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and Tool to Measure Parent Self-Efficacy (TOPSE). Latent growth curve analyses indicated that SNAP effectively decreased antisocial behaviors (parents-reported effect sizes ranged from 0.39 to 0.66) and increased prosocial behaviors (effect size of 0.31) for participating children; parental self-efficacy also increased (effect sizes ranged from 0.14 to 0.56). Further, parallel process latent growth curve analysis indicated negative relationships between the PSE and behavior problems. Parents whose children had higher levels of behavior problems at admission were more likely to show greater improvements in PSE through the program. Our results further support SNAP’s focus on improving PSE as a mechanism to reduce behavior problems.

Highlights

  • This was a study of 80 children and their parents who participated in SNAP programing to promote effective social and parenting skills and to prevent risk for antisocial behavior problems.

  • After participating in SNAP, children’s behavior problems decreased and parents’ self-efficacy improved.

  • Parents’ improvements in parental self-efficacy through the program were positively associated with their children’s initial levels of behavior problems.

  • Findings provide direction for future research that focuses on changes in parenting practices as a potential mechanism of change for children’s outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

Preparation of this paper was supported in part by grants for Depeng Jiang from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant, Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant, and Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM) Foundation Operating Grant, Hua Zhang was funded by China Scholarship Council (201906095015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Depeng Jiang, Kun Liu & Javier Mignone

  2. School of Sciences, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

    Depeng Jiang

  3. School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Hua Zhang

  4. Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Debra J. Pepler

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Ethical approval for the study were received from the University of Manitoba Research Ethics Board. Informed consent to participate was obtained from all parents, and assent was obtained from all children in the study.

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Jiang, D., Zhang, H., Liu, K. et al. Parents’ Self-Efficacy and Children’s Behavioral Problems Before and After SNAP: A Community-Based Intervention Program. J Child Fam Stud 32, 451–465 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-022-02463-2

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