A fresh start from arrested motherhood: A randomized trial of parent training for mothers being released from incarceration

Abstract

Children of incarcerated mothers are considered one of the most at risk populations for delinquency. Parenting may play a key role in this intergenerational transmission of delinquency. The aim of this dissertation was to examine problems faced by families affected by maternal incarceration, and to examine effectiveness of intervention for this population. The preventive effectiveness of enhanced Incredible Years parent training was evaluated by means of a randomized controlled trial. A nationwide screening was undertaken to trace all possible participants in the Netherlands. About 90% of the 129 mothers who met criteria and were asked to consent, agreed to participate in the study. The sample consisted of 113 (formerly) incarcerated mothers with 168 children (aged 2-10 years). Fifty-five mothers participated in a parent training, which consisted of 12 weekly group sessions and 4 monthly individual home visits. Mothers filled out questionnaires with regard to family circumstances, distress, cognitive distortions, parenting, and their children’s behavior. Teachers, who were blind to intervention status, filled out questionnaires with regard to children’s behavior. A social information processing task was assessed to measure social cognitions in participating children. To be able to compare these families to an other at-risk population, part of the measures were assessed in families from disadvantaged areas, in which mothers had no history of incarceration. Furthermore, we meta-analytically examined effectiveness of the Incredible Years parent training with regard to child behavior and variability in intervention outcomes. This dissertation confirmed presence of multiple problems in (formerly) incarcerated mothers and their young children. Mothers evidenced relatively high levels of maternal distress and cognitive distortions, which predicted suboptimal parenting. In turn, these suboptimal parenting behaviors were associated with children’s behavior problems. Besides being exposed to suboptimal parenting behaviors (low involvement and poor monitoring), children of (formerly) incarcerated mothers evidenced more behavior problems and more stressful life events than children of comparison mothers. Both between-group differences in parenting behaviors and associations between parenting behaviors and behavior problems suggest that parenting behaviors are a potential target for intervention in this population. Results of a meta-analytical review showed that the Incredible Years parent training is an effective intervention with regard to child behavior. Because of this demonstrated effectiveness and possibilities to tailor the intervention according to individual family’s needs, an enhanced version of the Incredible Years parent training was offered to (formerly) incarcerated mothers in a randomized trial. Intervention yielded significant effects on parenting and child behavior. Results established with regard to disruptive child behavior according to mothers (d = .47 for intensity of problems in per-protocol analyses) may be considered substantial in comparison with intervention effects of the Incredible Years parent training found for other selective prevention studies (d = .13). These results underscore the importance of understanding how maternal incarceration increases the risk of behavior problems in their offspring, and show that a preventive approach is promising for the high-risk population of incarcerated mothers and their children.