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Parent education needs assessment: parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds
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Parent education needs assessment: parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds
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Content
PARENT EDUCATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT:
PARENTS OF TYPICAL 14 TO 17-YEAR-OLDS
by
Michael James Keller
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
December 2009
Copyright 2009 Michael James Keller
ii
Dedication
First and foremost, this work is dedicated to my wife Allison. I could not be who I
am nor do what I do without you. To my son Owen who has reminded me to be humble
and that there is a vast difference between knowing what to do as a parent and actually
doing it. To my parents who gave me my first lessons about quality parenting.
iii
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the support of the following individuals: first and
foremost, to my doctoral dissertation chair, Dr. Ginger Clark, who was instrumental in
guiding me through this enlightening process; to my doctoral dissertation committee
members, Dr. Mary Andres and Dr. Kim Hirabayashi, who both offered their thoughtful
feedback and valuable time to improve my research; and to my thematic dissertation
colleagues who I was fortunate to share this wonderful growth experience, Dayna B.,
Deon B., and Charles C.
I would also like to acknowledge my professional mentors and friends who have
so invaluably shaped how I view and value human relationships: Dr. Keith Golay, Mrs.
Ann Golay, and Dr. David Keirsey.
iv
Table of Contents
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Tables vi
List of Figures vii
Abstract viii
Chapter 1: Introduction and Review of the Literature 1
Purpose of the study 5
Importance of the study 8
Research questions 15
Review of current parent education programs 24
Existing assessments of parent needs 56
Ethnic and demographic differences in parenting needs 66
Chapter 2: Methods 80
Research design 80
Participants 82
Measures 83
Procedures 85
Chapter 3: Results 88
Participant sample characteristics 88
Presentation of results 90
Chapter 4: Discussion 133
Research question 1: Insights related to the needs of parents of 136
typical adolescents
Research question 2: Insights in parent needs aligned with parent 142
differences
Research question 3: Insights related to the alignment of existing 149
programs with parent needs
Global strengths and limitations of the study 160
Recommendations for new parent education programs 164
Conclusion 169
References 170
v
Appendices 179
Appendix A: Research Information Sheet (English) 179
Appendix B: Parent Education Needs Survey (English) 182
Appendix C: Research Information Sheet (Spanish) 186
Appendix D: Parent Education Needs Survey (Spanish) 189
vi
List of Tables
Table 1: Los Angeles Unified School District Enrollment 83
by Ethnicity 2007-2008
Table 2: Parent Participant Income Distribution 90
Table 3: Most Significant Findings of Parent Needs 128
Table 4: Complete Topic Rankings Sorted by Income and Education 130
Table 5: Incomplete Topic Rankings Sorted by Income and Education 132
vii
List of Figures
Figure 1: Current Academic Progress Themes 94
Figure 2: Future Academic Planning Themes 96
Figure 3: Managing Risk Behavior Themes 100
Figure 4: Peer and Social Relationship Themes 103
Figure 5: Parent-Child Communication Themes 107
Figure 6: Emotional Development Themes 110
Figure 7: Family Conflict Themes 113
Figure 8: Parent’s Values Theme 116
Figure 9: Discipline Themes 118
Figure 10: Ethnic and Demographic Themes 121
Figure 11: Open Response Themes 124
viii
Abstract
Parenting an oldest child at the edge of the parent’s practical knowledge and
experiences may contribute to parenting insecurities about the quality of the parenting
environment, leading parents to seek support in a parent education program. In the vast
majority of parent education programs reviewed in the literature, very few assess or
utilize parent self-perceptions of needs to drive program content. This survey research
study identified parent needs of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds using a qualitative
approach. The participant sample included an ethnically and demographically diverse
sample of 20 parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds from an urban community.
Significant findings indicated that parents have primary needs in the area of
supporting their adolescent’s academic development, and with improving parent-
adolescent communication. Differences in parent needs in relation to parent ethnic or
demographic factors were inconclusive. The implications of the findings are that although
some aspects of existing parent education programs align with parent needs, new parent
education programs will need to be developed due to the gap between the identified
parent needs findings and the existing program content.
1
Chapter I
Introduction and Review of the Literature
Introduction
Providing primary care for a child or adolescent is one of the most challenging
and complex endeavors that a person will undertake in their lifetime. There is a constant
learning curve for parents throughout the child’s dependent developmental period, with
an ebb and flow of parental perceptions ranging from mastery and competence to
confusion and incompetence. Parents come to the role of parenting with a wide range of
parenting knowledge and skills (Mrazek, Mrazek, & Klinnert, 1995). Adding to the
complexity of parenting is the array of life circumstances that impacts a parent’s capacity
to successfully parent, including family structure and supports, work-home balance,
financial resources, cultural differences, and community supports, to name a few. Given
such complexity, each stage of a child’s development is likely to bring new insecurities
for parents, in particular while parenting their oldest child who grows at the frontier of
the parent’s practical experience.
It is a normal aspect of providing primary care to a child or adolescent that self-
perceptions of insecurity about the quality of that care are persistently present. In an
assessment of parental worry at well-baby exams in a pediatrician’s office, 70% of
mothers expressed a primary worry over parenting, behavior, and child development,
while the other 30% were primarily worried over physical health issues (Hickson,
Altemeier, & O’Conner, 1983). The specific worries that the majority of these mothers
identified as being primary concerns were in their child’s personality and social
2
development, utilizing proper discipline, supporting their child’s mental development,
and concerns over mother-child interaction time. Further, mothers indicated specific
concerns over managing child adjustment during family transitions such as divorce, and
coping with the transition from childhood to adolescence (Hickson et al., 1983).
Are parents rightfully concerned about their parenting knowledge and skills and
the risks imposed on their children or adolescents? Empirical evidence abounds that
supports the conclusion that the quality of parenting is an important factor in child and
adolescent developmental outcomes. Parenting practices have direct and powerful
implications on child and adolescent cognitive, emotional and behavioral development
(Kumpfer & Alvarado, 2003; Olds, Sadler, & Kitzman, 2007). Poor parenting practices
including abusive behaviors and parental discord are strong and significant predictors of
negative outcomes in children (Bodenmann, Cina, Ledermann, & Sanders, 2008; Mrazek,
et al., 1995). Conversely, quality parenting behaviors are considered a protective
developmental factor that build resilience and contribute to a child’s development of self-
confidence, social competence, and general adjustment (Kumpfer & Alvarado, 2003;
Mrazek et al., 1995).
A major effort to bridge to gap between what may be considered “poor parenting”
and “good parenting” is through parent education programs designed to increase parent
knowledge, skills, and abilities throughout the dependent developmental span. Parent
education programs have been found to range in effectiveness on child outcomes, but are
reportedly most effective in targeting specific parenting skills or addressing specific child
problem behaviors (Hoard & Shepard, 2005; Kumpfer & Alvarado, 2003). Commercially
3
available evidenced-based parent education programs, such as the Incredible Years
(Webster-Straton, 1984) and Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP)
(Dinkmeyer & McKay, 1976), have been found to be effective in causing change in
researcher determined measures of child behavior or measures of specific program
principles and strategies (Barth, Landsverk, Chamberlain, Reid, Rolls, Hurlburt, et
al.,2005). Kumpfer and Alvarado (2003) summarized an array of parenting intervention
findings and found evidence that these programs are effective in the prevention of
adolescent behavior problems, such as substance abuse, depression, teen pregnancy,
delinquency, conduct disorders, and school failure.
The parent education programs and the literature body that evaluates parenting
programs appear to be increasingly focused on conducting research to meet the
established criteria of an evidence-based intervention (Hughes, 2000; Kumpfer &
Alvarado, 2003). Government mandates that limit grant money for use with only
programs that meet the standards for effectiveness and dissemination have shaped this
change (Kumpfer & Alvarado, 2003). The standards require the programs to complete
multiple true experimental research trials using a parenting intervention as the
independent variable. Programs build their empirical foundation on significant changes
on dependent measures that primarily involve parental, teacher, or observational
measures of child behavioral change. As Kumpfer and Alvarado (2003) explained, two
key aspects for parenting programs to meet the minimum standards of effectiveness and
dissemination are that the programs cause statistically significant change on measures of
4
child behavior and that an effect size on children’s problem behaviors are reported at
post-intervention (Kumpfer & Alvarado, 2003).
This begs the important question that has motivated the current research: What
about the parents’ needs? In reviewing an array of evidence-based programs, an
important omission is the absence of a needs assessment utilizing a qualitative approach
to identify the needs of the primary consumer of the parenting program: the parent. The
important work being done in parent education programs in relation to child behavioral
outcomes or evidence of meeting the program goals is juxtaposed with the knowledge
gap in the identification of parental needs. Additionally, it is difficult to measure the
extent to which existing parent education programs address parental perceptions of need
without first assessing and defining those needs. Strom (1985) articulated this very
problem over 20 years ago and suggested that parent education programs are “based
largely on what program planners intuitively suppose to be relevant” (p. 162). Although
the identification of needs has been widely recognized as an integral step in the
development of theory and intervention programs, comprehensive information about
parents’ needs have been widely ignored in place of the program developers’ perceptions
of what parents need (Hughes, 2000; Jacobson & Engelbrecht, 2000; Ralph,
Toumbourou, Grigg, Mulcahy, Carr-Gregg, & Sanders, 2003; Strom, 1985). It is evident
that there is an information gap in the literature body in the identification of what parents
want or need in a parenting program. The identification of parent needs is critical to
build the link between assessment and intervention (Martens & Eckert, 2000). The
resulting benefits of this alignment would presumably be more relevant parent education
5
program content, more efficient use of parent time and money, increased rates of program
attendance, engagement, and program completion, and the flexibility to adapt parenting
programs to salient need differences related to parent demographic differences (Dumas,
Nissley-Tsiopinis, & Moreland, 2007; Strom, 1985; Yeaton & Sechrest, 1981).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the current study is to discover and articulate parenting needs
themes from parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds from a demographically diverse
sample. An assessment to intervention framework is at the core of evidenced-based
psychological, school, and family interventions (Hughes, 2001), and this philosophy
drives the present study. Assessment to intervention is the congruent alignment of
interventions to identified problems and needs. An assessment of parental perspectives
about their own parenting needs should logically drive the development of parental
education programs. It is a surprising reality that in the body of research literature on the
topic of parent education programs, parental self-perceptions of their needs as parents are
not commonly explored.
This research aims to establish source material to serve two primary functions.
First, the parent needs findings will be used as comparative data to evaluate the extent to
which existing parent education programs’ theory and outcome goals align with
identified parent needs. A second goal is that these research findings will act as source
material for the development of future parent education programs where parenting needs
drive program curriculum and instructional methodology. The first step in the
development of any new parent education program should be to assess parenting needs
6
(Strom, 1985). The last step in evaluating the effectiveness of a parent education
program is to assess the extent to which the parent education program met the identified
parent needs. The findings from the present research on parenting needs will be used to
open and close the program development and evaluation loop.
Additionally, Strom (1985) recommended the development of a vertical model in
the identification of parenting needs that spans the developmental period from infancy
through adolescence. The focus of the current study addresses an upper segment of that
range, parents of 14 to 17-year-olds. Strom (1985) indicated that this is a particularly
underserved developmental span in parent education research. Most parent education
programs are designed for parents of children younger than 13-years-old, generally when
families report less parent-child interaction problems (Arnett, 1999; Strom, 1985). In the
United States, the 14 to 17-year-old age span is bound at the lower end by the typical
developmental age when early adolescents matriculate to high school and at the upper
end by legal adult status at 18 years of age.
In order to gather both deep and rich data on parent needs for the dual purposes of
understanding parent needs and generalizing the findings for applied uses, the present
study was designed as a needs assessment that utilized a qualitative approach. An open-
ended written response survey was utilized to capture parental perceptions of needs (see
Appendices A and B). After conducting parent education needs research, Strom (1985)
recommended that parental needs be assessed in a way that least restricts parental
response. He found parents to be disappointed with restricted response survey methods
(e.g., forced-choice classifications; Likert scale). The open-ended response items covered
7
an array of topics that the researcher found to be pivotal instructional topics in the field of
parent education. These included: child or adolescent learning and academic progress,
parent-child communication, managing child risk behaviors, discipline, peer
relationships, managing family conflict, family culture, and child emotional development.
In order to further allow parents an unrestricted opportunity for open response, the survey
document included an item that asked parents to identify any other areas of their
perceived parent education needs that were not included in the previous item topic stems.
The final item on the parent needs survey requested parent participants to generate a
parent education topic hierarchy. This item yielded a ranked list of the parent perceptions
of the three most important topics to include in a parent education program. This final
item attempted to identify parental perceptions of parent education topic value relative to
the other possible parent education topic content.
Another unique aspect of the current study is the focus on the parental needs of
“typical” children. Parent education programs have been traditionally designed for
parents of children or adolescents at the extremes of the distribution in their cognitive
development (i.e., learning disorders, developmental handicaps, or gifted) or behavior
(i.e., behavior disordered). In order to purposely capture parental needs of the majority of
parents, the data analysis will exclude parents of students who are eligible for special
education services or who are identified as gifted. The survey document included an item
within the demographic section that queried parents on their oldest child’s participation in
special education or gifted programs. Parents of typical children or adolescents are likely
to be diverse across various demographic variables, such as ethnicity, parent age, marital
8
status, parent income, parent education level, and number of children in household.
Pertinent to the present study, they represent the majority of parents in the middle of the
distribution in terms of their child’s cognitive and behavioral development. There was an
explicit assumption that students at the extremes of the distribution in their cognitive or
behavioral development would have likely been identified by school personnel as such,
and that participants were willing to report that information on the survey.
Lastly, this research purposely sampled the needs of a diverse group of parents
residing in an urban setting in Southern California with students attending school in the
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The survey instrument was translated
into Spanish (see Appendices C and D) and the participant sample included both English
and Spanish speaking parents. It was not only an aim of this research to develop a
database of information on parent self-perceptions of parent education need, but also to
include a breakdown in differences in parent education need by demographic
characteristics. For the purposes of the current research, demographic variables that were
collected included parent sex, parent ethnicity, parental age, parental marital relationship
status or family structure, household income, parent education, and number of children in
household. Ultimately, this research intended to identify and articulate parent education
need themes from a demographically diverse sample of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-
olds and any salient differences in parenting need across demographic domains.
Importance of the Study
Need for parent education. The focus of the current research is on parental self-
perceptions of needs in relation to raising a typical 14 to 17-year-old adolescent.
9
Unfortunately, there are no contemporary parent education needs assessments utilizing a
qualitative approach in the peer-reviewed literature. In the absence of contemporary
parent needs data in the literature, parenting needs were inferred from an examination of
parent consumer behavior and in the available parenting industry products and services.
Parents of typical children or adolescents were presumed to have ever-evolving parent
education needs as their children progress through the developmental span, and are not
believed to be innately expert parents. Further, parents are believed to integrate new
parenting knowledge and skills through a learning process that bridges the gap between
their parenting needs and aligned parenting solutions. Due to the dearth of peer-reviewed
data on parent education needs, we may begin to build a context of parent education
needs by examining the array of parenting information products made available in the
marketplace in various forms including internet-based content, magazines, and books.
In the United States and around the world, parents use the internet as a key tool to
find parent information content (Alexa Internet, Inc., n.d. a). There are parenting-based
corporate websites where established businesses offer parenting information on child
development, child healthcare, behavior management, parental stress management, and
other related resources. There are tens of thousands of parenting related Web-logs (blogs)
where private individuals or organizations write content about their personal parenting
experiences and offer forums for on-line discussions related to parenting (Wordpress,
n.d). Lastly, there are newsgroups and other reference content providers where parent
consumers subscribe to parenting content providers and receive regular informational
articles.
10
Daily web-site page views may be used as an indicator of parental needs and
interest in the content offered in the particular site. Two examples of popular parenting
websites include Parents.com (Merideth Corporation, n.d.) and Babycenter.com
(Babycenter-LLC, n.d.). The website Parents.com (Alexa Internet, Inc., n.d.a) has an
average of over 5,000 page views per day and Babycenter.com has over 1,200 page
views per day (Alexa Internet, Inc., n.d.b). Another indicator of the volume of parenting
content and presumably information may be inferred from internet search engines, such
as Google. The search term “parenting” resulted in over 80 million website hits with
related content on the internet (Google, n.d.).
Parenting books and magazine consumption are also indicative of parenting
needs. Parenting books provide parents with information, principles, and strategies
related to raising children. The internet retail website Amazon.com compares book
popularity by ranking book sales. In a field of all books sold on the Amazon.com website,
the most popular parenting related book provides information related to pregnancy, child-
birth, and raising a newborn ranks number 68 (Amazon.com, Inc, n.d.). Additionally,
parenting magazine subscription rates provide an estimate of parenting needs. The Audit
Bureau of Circulations (2008) reported that for the 6 month period ending 6/30/2008,
there were over 9 million subscriptions to top parenting magazines.
Existing parent education programs. Parenting need may also be inferred from
the variety of parental support services made available to parents, such as child-care,
parent education programs, and family counseling and therapy. It is estimated that there
are 50,000 different parent education programs across the United States (Carter, 1996).
11
Although most of these programs are not empirically validated, all of these programs aim
to improve parenting environments to positively support child development. Variability
between content features of these programs are common and add to the immense
complexity of the task of determining relative effectiveness between programs. Some
aspects of the most important parent education dimensions include the theoretical and
principle foundations, degree of empirical support, instructional methodology, targeted
populations served, and from a monetary cost and time requirement (Carter, 1996).
Upon closer examination of popular parent education programs, they appear to be
grounded in either the theoretical perspective of the provider, or are designed to address
serious behavior disorders in children, or aim to reduce the risk or occurrences of parental
abuse (see Dembo et al., 1985; Lundahl, Risser, & Lovejoy, 2006; Strom, 1985).
Theoretically-based parent education programs are differentiated between primarily
behavioral theory-based orientation and nonbehavioral theory-based orientation (Lundahl
et al., 2006). Behavioral theory-based parent education programs emphasize that parents
use behavioral methods to shape child behavior, including reinforcement of desired
behaviors, and punishment of undesired behaviors (Taylor & Biglan, 1998).
Nonbehavioral theory-based parenting programs are based on Adlerian or Rogerian
theories and teach parents a democratic parenting style that helps children to become
independent problem-solvers and contributing family members (Nystul, 1982). Another
group of parent education programs emphasizes parental education as a means to
remediate at-risk or clinically significant behavior disorders in children. These programs
are unique because they embed their theoretical foundations in multiple perspectives,
12
often singularly focusing on improving child behaviors, have generally higher program
commitment timeframes, and are sometimes delivered individually rather than in a group
context. The final group of parent education programs support parents who abuse or
have multiple risk factors associated with abuse. These programs are often multi-
dimensional and help parents in life functioning areas beyond their parent-child
interactions alone.
Demographic differences in need. In diverse urban populations, parent education
programs must be socio-culturally relevant to maximize recruitment rates, parental
engagement, and program completion (Dumas, Nissley-Tsiopinis, & Moreland, 2007).
The empirical body of what are considered effective parent education programs has been
primarily validated with Caucasian parents (Reid, Webster-Stratton, & Beauchaine,
2001). Parents who differ across levels of socio-economic status (SES), parenting
structure (e.g., single, married, divorced, etc.), ethnicity, primary language, and other
salient demographic variables may not relate to or benefit from a program that does not
align with their personal demographic background and life circumstances. There is a
contemporary movement toward consumer-driven programs that are responsive to
individual’s needs. When parent education programs are not adapted to important cultural
differences, parents stop attending (Marek, Brock, & Sullivan, 2006). A discussion about
important cultural implications in parent education programs is contained in the review of
literature that follows.
Existing parenting programs and the assessment of needs. In the array parent
education programs available, Turner and Sanders (2006) reported that very few have
13
been formally evaluated. In reviewing the literature, there are no quantitative or
qualitative needs assessments that indicate the extent to which parent education
programs’ theoretical foundations or outcome goals align with parents’ self-perceptions
of need. Parents participating in parent education programs are frequently assessed about
their perceptions of program satisfaction. Program satisfaction is quite different from
personal perceptions of parent education needs. A parent may enjoy a particular parent
education program, even finding that it helped them improve their parenting skills
without the program meeting the parent’s initial perceptions of needs. Most parent
education program research collects data on indicators that the researchers’ perceive are
important factors to measure, as opposed to the consumer driven needs assessment.
Definition of Terms
A working definition of the term parent education programs for the current study
blends several researchers’ perspectives. Hoard and Shepard (2005) attempted to make a
distinction between parent training programs and parent education programs, expressing
that the former provided intervention services for an existing problem, while the latter
was more prevention based. Dembo, Sweitzer, and Lauretzen (1985) suggested that the
distinction was less clear between parent training and parent education, and that the
former was subsumed under the more broad term of parent education. They
conceptualized parent training as the addition of a specific training component focusing
on teaching parents new skills beyond the general parent education emphasis on
developing new knowledge (Dembo et al., 1985). Carter (1996) proposed a parent
education program definition that provides a useful frame for the current study, stating
14
that Parenting Education means, “Programs, support services and resources offered to
parents and caregivers that are designed to support them or increase their capacity and
confidence in raising healthy children” (p. 6). The current research study adds to Carter’s
(1996) definition of parent education programs and defines it as follows: Parent
education programs serve universal parent populations or targets specific populations to
increase parents’ knowledge, skills, and abilities to promote quality parenting
environments that support healthy child development.
The term parent(s) includes any primary care provider of a child or adolescent.
Parents may be biological parents, stepparents, relatives, siblings, grandparents, or a legal
guardian (Carter, 1996). For the purposes of identifying the needs of parents, this
research attempted to capture an under-researched block of parents by focusing our
findings on parents of typical children or adolescents. The term typical, when referring to
a child or adolescent, is operationalized as a child or adolescent who has not been
identified by school or medical professionals as someone who requires special education
services or who is gifted. Presumably, this will capture parents of children or adolescents
who are the vast majority of parents in the middle of the distribution of parents with
children in general education programs when considering the several of the most
common developmental factors (e.g., cognitive ability, academic achievement,
communication ability, social and emotional functioning, etc.). In adding specificity to
the data analysis on the identification of parental need, the age span of the parents’
adolescent for the current study was 14 to 17-year-olds. This study purposefully sampled
an urban population of parents within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)
15
boundaries with demographically diverse families and included data collected from
English and Spanish speakers. The term socio-economic status (SES) is used to describe
the correlated factors of parent education levels, defined as educational attainment and
experiences, and parent income (Braveman, Cubbin, Egerter, Chideya, Marchi, Metzler,
et al., 2005).
Research Questions
The current research aimed to answer the following research questions:
1. What are the needs of parents of typical adolescents of 14 to 17-year-old?
2. How do parent participants’ needs differ in relation to parent gender, age, marital
status, ethnicity, parent income, parent education, and number of children in
household?
3. To what extent do existing parent education programs’ theoretical foundation and
outcome goals align with the identified needs of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-
olds?
Review of the Literature
As the review of literature reveals, parent education programs are generally
effective interventions on measures of what researchers’ perceive are important parenting
constructs (Lundahl et al., 2006). This review begins with a discussion of the importance
of quality parenting environments, how quality parenting environments emerge, and how
quality parenting environments are measured. Next, the review examines the evidence of
parental need, the unique needs of parents of adolescents, and provides a brief review of
the history of parent education. Additionally, the review examines current popular parent
16
education programs and the extent to which each parent education programs assesses
parent needs. Lastly, there is a review of the evidence-base for parent education programs
of typical children or adolescents, followed by a discussion about the needs of parents
who are demographically diverse. The review concludes with a summary and the
presentation of the research questions.
Quality Parenting
In order to promote normal development in children, parents play an important
role in creating quality parenting environments for their offspring. Genetic heritance has
been found to have a significant effect on the expression of intellectual development,
personality, and in the development of child or adolescent psychopathology (Scarr,
1992). Beyond genetic heritance, the environments that parents create for their children
are also significantly correlated with child developmental outcomes (Scarr, 1992). It has
been suggested that parenting quality ranges along a continuum with parenting
difficulties at one end where there is a high likelihood that the family requires external
intervention, to adequate parenting at the other end where average and exceptional
parenting environments exist (Mrazek et al., 1995). In order to systematically evaluate
the quality of parenting, Mrazek et al. (1995) articulated five fundamental factors of
parenting that have consistently emerged in the parenting literature:
1. Emotional Availability or the “Degree of emotional warmth” (p. 274).
2. Control or the “Degree of flexibility and permission” (p. 274).
3. Psychiatric Disturbance or “The presence, type, and severity of psychiatric
disorder” (p. 274).
17
4. Knowledge Base or the “Understanding emotional and physical
development as well as basic child care principles” (p. 274).
5. Commitment or “Adequate prioritization of child care responsibilities” (p.
274).
These five domains of parenting are useful constructs to help draw conclusions about the
quality of the parenting environments that parents create for their children. All five
factors can further be condensed into two broad domains, innate parent characteristics
(i.e., nature) and learned parenting skills (i.e., nurture).
In Mrazik et al.’s (1995) framework, innate parent characteristics and learned
parenting behaviors influence the degree that parents are emotionally available, their
level of control, psychiatric disturbance, parenting knowledge base, and ultimately their
child care commitment. Parents who have innate parenting capacity, or who are willing
and able to develop capacity through acquired knowledge and skills create quality
parenting environments that promote healthy child cognitive, emotional, and social
development. Together, innate parent characteristics and the learned parenting skills form
the total parenting environment, a system within which the child or adolescent develops.
There are potential barriers in various communities within the United States that
are viewed as individual and systemic risk factors that may hinder the development of
quality parenting environments. We know that quality parenting behaviors are more
challenging to develop in single family households, where there are high rates of
transience between communities, and under conditions where there are limited supports
from close or extended family and friends (Carter, 1996; Leung, Sanders, Leung, Mak, &
18
Lau, 2003). The historically traditional parenting support system of close contact with
family and extended family has gradually faded away for most American parents over the
past 40 years (Carter, 1996). Today, family and community risk factors associated with
poor child and adolescent outcomes, such as low socio-economic status (SES), a family
history of substance abuse and family conflict, community violence, and family
management problems are persistently prevalent in hundreds of thousands of households
in the United States (Hawkins, Catalano, & Arthur, 2002; U.S. Census Bureau, 2007).
One key indicator of risk in the United States, that of single family household status, has
almost doubled from the period of 1970 to 1994 and has remained stable at around 9% of
all households through 2006 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007).
Not only are there societal, community, and family challenges that influence the
creation of quality parenting environments, but also personal barriers, especially among
parents with one or more parental risk factors. It is clearly evident that in addition to the
practical supports of daily child care, there are needs for emotional supports to help
parents understand that their parenting experiences are likely normal (Carter, 1996; Scarr,
1992). In the absence of close and extended family environmental supports that
previously provided the traditional models of parenting behaviors, parents have turned to
extra-familial information and support resources. Parenting product and services
resources have come to fill the void left by the increasingly distant family parenting
models. Today, a broad array of parenting products and services make up a diverse
parenting industry, with print (e.g., books, magazines, and journals), electronic media
(e.g., internet sites, web logs, videos, and television programs), and parenting programs
19
(e.g., professional individual therapy, parent training groups, and parent education
programs).
Evidence of parental need. Parental education needs vary greatly in the universal
parent population depending on the personal qualities of the parent, presenting child
concerns, and the embedded environmental family and community contexts (Haggerty,
Fleming, Lonczak, Oxford, Harachi, & Catalano, 2002). Currently, in a review of the
research body, there are no published, peer-reviewed needs assessments using a
qualitative approach to articulate parenting needs from a demographically diverse sample
of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds. In light of the lack of empirical evidence, a
reasonable starting point to infer parental education needs in the universal parent
population is through an examination of consumer behavior for parenting education
products and services. When all of the marketing segments of the parenting industry were
examined, it became evident that parents are voracious consumers of parenting
knowledge products and services, and the marketplace has responded in kind with an
array of products and services to meet those demands.
In the area of print media, parenting magazine subscription rates are one measure
of interest in parenting information. In the 6 month period ending 6/30/2008, there were a
total of 9.1 million subscriptions to popular parenting magazines, including Cookie,
Family Fun, Parenting, Parents, Scholastic Parent and Child, Time Out New York Kids,
Wondertime, and Working Mother (Audit Bureau of Circulations, 2008). Popular
parenting books have sold millions of copies. Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care (1946,
2004) has reportedly sold over 50 million copies since it was first published in 1946 and
20
is currently published in an eighth edition (The Dr. Spock Company, n.d.). Thomas
Gordon’s (2000) book, Parent Effectiveness Training (PET), has reportedly sold 4
million copies since the publication of the first edition. There are thousands of available
book titles in the area of parenting. A search for books on a popular internet retail web
site, Amazon.com, the search term “parenting” resulted in 41,377 related books
(Amazon.com, n.d.).
Internet based content is another medium where parenting information needs may
be inferred. In an internet search conducted on the internet search engine Google, the
term “parenting” resulted in 80 million web site hits (Google, n.d.). Web logs (blogs) are
internet based sites that are forums where individuals or professionals provide content
and discussions related to specific topics. Parenting related blogs exist in the tens of
thousands. On a Google Blog Search, an internet site search engine that indexes blogs,
the search term “parenting” resulted in 1.5 million results (Google Blog Search, n.d.). In
a blog search on a popular blog design and hosting company, Wordpress.com, the search
term “parenting” resulted in 40,872 blog results (Wordpress, n.d.).
Lastly, parenting programs represent another major marketing segment in the
parenting industry that may help to infer parenting education needs. Parent education
programs are delivered to interested parents who desire information or skill building
experiences and to parents of severely behavior disordered children or children with other
disabling conditions. Parenting programs are also developed, targeted, and delivered on
an involuntary basis to parents who are found to be neglectful or abusive, often under
mandates by state legal systems. Carter (1996) estimated that there are over 50,000 parent
21
education programs across the United States. These programs exist in various forms,
from formal to informal, from theoretically evidenced-based to atheoretical, from
relatively expensive to free, and from long-term to short-term. Additionally, parenting
programs differ across instructional methodology, from indirect print and video
instruction to direct skill building through case examples, role play, and discussions.
Although there is much variation in the thousands of parenting programs’ theories,
models, and evidence-base, a clear consistency between parent education programs is
found at the heart of the overarching mission that they share. Parent education programs
exist to help parents create quality parenting environments for their children. A possible
explanation for parent education program inconsistencies and a guiding feature of the
current research may be the fact that almost all parent education programs neglect to
directly assess parent education needs. In the rare circumstances where a parent education
program assesses parent education needs, there is no reported evidence that the parent
needs data are utilized to align the program to meet those needs.
Needs of parents of adolescents. There is an obvious and inevitable
transformation in the parent-child relationship during the adolescent period that results in
unique parenting challenges. One of the most significant changes is the shift in the
parent-adolescent relationship from a traditional hierarchy of unilateral authority of
parent over child to a more shared authority structure as adolescents approach increased
independence in early adulthood (Allison & Schultz, 2004). Additionally during the
adolescent developmental period, family conflict is at a peak (Hines & Paulson, 2006).
Although not a universal experience, the majority of parents of adolescents hold the
22
perception that adolescence is a time of storm and stress (Arnett, 1999; Hines & Paulson,
2006). Storm and stress is characterized by three distinct aspects: (1) parent-adolescent
conflict, (2) adolescent emotional moodiness, and (3) adolescent involvement with risky
behaviors (Arnett, 1999; Hines & Paulson, 2006). Research indicates that the most
challenging risky behaviors during adolescence are increased prevalence of substance
use, violence, risky sexual behaviors, school misbehavior, and school dropout (Hawkins,
Catalano, & Arthur, 2002). Although the extreme storm and stress view of adolescence
may be exaggerated for the majority of families, most families experience mild to
moderate levels of conflict, adolescent moodiness, and increased rates of risk-taking
behaviors (Hines & Paulson, 2006).
Parents of adolescents may be a particular segment of the population where parent
education programs are of special benefit. It is reasonable to conclude that even normal
levels of mild to moderate family conflict, adolescent moodiness, and increased risk-
taking behaviors may adversely impact parental self-perceptions of parental
effectiveness. The aim of the present research is to identify specific parental needs of
parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds. These findings will help determine parent education
supports that currently exist, or may provide information for the development of new
parent education programs to support parents through the storm and stress stage of
adolescence.
History of Parent Education
In developed countries worldwide, parenting supports have evolved over a period
of 200 years since the loosely formalized mother parenting groups first began meeting
23
(Hoard & Shepard, 2005). The forums in the early 1800s were groups of mothers who
gathered together to discuss parenting practices (Hoard & Shepard, 2005). In the early
part of the 1900s, there was a shift from less formal parent meeting groups to more
formalized parent education as the United States government developed parent
information programs under the Public Health Services department (Hoard & Shepard,
2005). Increased rates of schooling in the 1930s resulted in decreased parental interest in
parent education programs as part of the child-rearing burden inevitably shifted to the
schools (Hoard & Shepard, 2005). In the 1960s and 1970s, parent education methodology
rigor increased substantially, which paved the way for national parenting initiatives in
programs such as Head Start and Parent Effectiveness Training (Hoard & Shepard,
2005). The Head Start program was created in the 1960s as a pre-school intervention to
promote school readiness and enriched developmental experiences for disadvantaged
children (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). The Head Start program
provides family services to help parents develop quality parenting skills. Parent
Effectiveness Training (PET), detailed in the review below, is a humanistic theory-based
parent education program that teaches democratic parenting principles and the strategies
of active listening (Gordon, 1970, 2000).
In addition to these programs, over the past 30 to 40 years in particular, a
tremendous expansion in parenting products and services can be attributed to the
evolution of several cultural paradigms. First, the broadening empirical knowledge base
has supported a formal conceptualization about what constitutes quality parenting (see
Mrazik et al.,1995). Second, there has emerged a general understanding that parents are
24
instrumental care providers with great influence on child and adolescent developmental
outcomes (Hoard & Shepard, 2005; Scarr, 1992). Lastly, child problem behaviors were
found to be associated with parents who may have lacked fundamental knowledge and
skills that were necessary for normal child development (Hoard & Shepard, 2005).
Review of Current Parent Education Programs
It is a disconcerting fact that very few parent education programs available to
parents in therapeutic contexts, school-based parent training, and commercially available
products are formally evaluated (Turner & Sanders, 2006). Most of the 50,000 parent
education programs available are non-validated programs, without firm theoretical
foundations and any evidence of effectiveness, even on the program developers’
perception of important outcome measures. Participants in parent education programs
that lack theoretical grounding or evidence of effectiveness are potentially at risk of not
getting their needs met (Turner & Sanders, 2006).
After reviewing the available research on parent education programs, it became
evident that programs are categorized across dimensions of theoretical orientation and in
the targeting of specific client populations (Dembo et al., 1985; Lundahl, Risser, &
Lovejoy, 2005). A useful first step in the analysis of the extent to which existing
programs assess and align with parental self-perceptions of need is to consider the
categorization of parent education programs by their theoretical orientation or population
served. The most common theoretically based parenting programs are behavioral theory-
based and nonbehavioral theory-based programs (Lundahl et al., 2006). Programs that are
targeted to meet specific client population needs are most typically programs that serve
25
parents of children with behavior disorders and programs for parents who are abusers or
are at-risk of abusing.
One notably absent finding from the review of research on parent education
programs is the lack of explicit identification and reporting of parenting needs from the
parent’s perspective. Parent education program developers and researchers appeared to
infer parental need based on the parenting program theory and model, or the presenting
problem (e.g., Dembo et al., 1985; Hoard & Shepard, 2005; Sanders, 1999). The
presenting problems that typically initiated parent recruitment into research studies were
most commonly concerns about the management of challenging child behavior problems
(Lundahl et al., 2006). To a lesser extent, presenting problems that appeared to lead
parents into treatment or research programs included parent-child relationship quality
problems, marital discord, and parental stress. In general, parent education program
developers and researchers appeared to impose their own perceptions of parent education
need, or perhaps ignored parental need altogether.
There is an emerging body of evidence-based or promising practice parent
education programs. Hughes (2000) characterized evidence-based and promising
programs as programs that have been evaluated with multiple experimental designs using
random assignment, a control group, alternative treatment, and those that indicate
measured effect size outcomes. Interestingly, in the research literature on evidenced-
based or promising parent education programs, parent needs do not emerge as common
variables at pre-treatment or as outcome measures (see Dembo et al., 1985; Hoard &
Shepard, 2005; Lundahl et al., 2006). One possible explanation as to why parent needs
26
are not used as variables in parent education research is that parent needs represent a
heterogeneous construct that is difficult to quantify and therefore measure. It is possible
that the methods of contemporary qualitative research may offer solutions and yield
important parent needs data that is rich and descriptive, and captures participants’
experiences that would otherwise be lost in pure quantitative analysis (Morrow, 2007).
Theoretically-Based Parent Education Programs
Theory, an organized belief system used for explanation (Thoery, n.d.), guides the
development of many commercially available and research-based parenting programs.
Theoretically-based parent education programs use theory as a framework to explain
parent-child dynamics, and to establish a rationale and a roadmap for change. The two
main branches of theory-based parent education programs are behavioral theory-based
programs and nonbehavioral theory-based programs (Hoard & Shepard, 2005; Lundahl et
al., 2006). Behavioral theory-based parent education programs primarily include
Behavioral Theory and Cognitive-Behavioral Theory based training, with a training
emphasis on development contingency management skills to increase desired or prosocial
child behaviors and decrease problem behaviors (Hoard & Shepard, 2005).
Nonbehavioral theory-based parent education programs are primarily based humanistic
theories, such as Adlerian theory or Client-Centered (e.g., Rogerian theory) theory
approaches to improve parent-child relationship, teach democratic parenting skills,
improve parent-child communication, and enhance collaborative problem-solving
(Lundahl et al., 2006).
27
Lundahl et al. (2006) completed a meta-analysis on behavioral and nonbehavioral
parent education programs and concluded that outcomes from both families of treatment
with disruptive child behaviors produced moderate effect sizes immediately following
treatment. However, the researchers reported that the behaviorally theory-based programs
exhibited superior rigor in the research designs relative to the nonbehavioral parent
education programs. Further, the behaviorally-based programs were used with child
problem behaviors in the clinical range, where evidence of effectiveness with
nonbehavioral programs had not been previously supported in the literature (Lundahl et
al., 2006). Ultimately, the researchers concluded that behavioral parent training programs
and nonbehavioral-based programs were not necessarily interchangeable because
nonbehavioral parent training programs lacked rigor in the treatment of clinical
populations (Lundahl et al., 2006). Overall, the important finding was that both
behavioral and nonbehavioral theoretical-based parenting programs were found to be
significantly beneficial as parenting interventions.
Behavioral theory-based parent education programs. Behavioral theory-based
parenting education programs are one type of intervention under the broad umbrella of
Behavioral Family Interventions (BFI). These interventions are based on Behavioral
Theory where parents are trained to analyze child behavior in a context of behavioral
antecedents and consequences. Behavioral theory-based parenting programs aim to
increase the frequency and quality of prosocial child behaviors with the systematic
manipulation of antecedents and consequences (Lundahl et al., 2006). There is a
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concurrent focus in behavioral theory-based parenting programs to reduce the frequency
and intensity of problem child behaviors (Taylor & Biglan, 1998).
Behavioral Family Intervention treatments have been found to be effective in
reducing patterns of coercive behavior between children and parents. Coercive parent-
child patterns during a child’s early development were conceptualized as negatively
reinforced communication feedback patterns that were found to be predictive of social
rejection when children enter school (Taylor & Biglan, 1998). Many parenting programs
use behavioral theory-based concepts and strategies in the parenting education programs
with various degrees of success. Two programs that have been widely evaluated in the
literature that are behavioral theory-based programs are the Triple P: Positive Parenting
Program (Sanders, 1999) and 1-2-3 Magic (Phelan, 1993).
Triple P: Positive Parenting Program. Triple P: Positive Parenting Program
(Triple P) is a multi-level parenting program that is based on behavioral and social
learning theories with an emphasis on operant learning, or the reinforcement (e.g.,
positive or negative) of behaviors (e.g., aggression, oppositional behaviors) through
dynamic transactions between parent, child, and the environment (Turner & Sanders,
2006). One key Triple P program goal is to prevent the onset of behavioral, emotional,
and developmental problems in children (Sanders, 1999; Sanders, Turner, & Markie-
Dadds, 2002; Turner & Sanders, 2006). Additionally, the Triple-P program aims to
reduce family risk factors and to increase parent knowledge, skills, and confidence.
Program developers propose to help parents become independent problem solvers and
increase their capacity for self-regulation (Sanders, 1999). The Triple P developers
29
expressed the desire to help parents to create environments for children that are safe,
nurturing, and low-conflict that are optimal for social, emotional, and intellectual
development (Sanders, 1999). The program emphasizes nine pivotal parenting skills:
observation skills, parent-child relationship enhancement skills, encouraging desirable
behavior, teaching new skills and behaviors, managing misbehavior, preventing problems
in high-risk situations, self-regulation skills, mood management and coping skills, and
partner support and communication skills (Sanders, 1999).
The Triple P Model has five levels of intervention. Level 1, Universal Triple P,
targets all parents interested in information about promoting their child’s development
through self-directed resources, brief professional consultation, group presentations, and
mass media to target common behavioral concerns (Sanders, 1999). Level 2, Selective
Triple P, is designed for parents experiencing more significant concerns, such as bedtime
routine difficulties, temper tantrums, meal time behavior challenges, and toilet training
(Sanders, 1999). Level 3, Primary Care Triple P, is more intensive and provides parents
active skills training in a brief therapy program of 1 to 4 sessions. Level 4 is called
Standard Triple P and it targets parents experiencing severe child behavior problems and
those parents who want intensive training in positive parenting skills. The Standard
Triple P intervention is a multi-method approach with increased intensity of the program
delivery focusing on parent-child interaction and the application of parenting skills to a
broad range of target behaviors. Parents are trained to manage general behavior
concerns, aggressive behaviors, oppositional behaviors, conduct disorder, and learning
disorders (Sanders, 1999). The most intensive parent training level in the Triple P service
30
model is level 5 Enhanced Triple P. Enhanced Triple P delivers interventions to parents
of children with persistent conduct problems and persistent parent-child relationship
problems including conflict, depression and child maltreatment. The intensive program
is delivered with modules including home visits to enhance parenting skills, mood
management strategies, stress-coping skills, and partner support skills (Sanders, 1999).
Nowak and Heinrichs (2008) recently published a comprehensive meta-analysis
on the Triple P using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) examining program
effectiveness and identifying moderating variables. The researchers’ hypothesized that
Triple P would be generally effective on measures of effect size with improving
parenting and child behaviors. In addition, Triple P was expected to have a large effect
size on parental relationship quality, and on parent and child mental well-being. Parents
reporting higher levels of child behavioral problems were expected to have higher effect
size outcomes on child behavior after program participation due to the phenomenon of
regression toward the mean and due to belief that there would be greater responsiveness
from parents in distress. Lastly, more intensive levels of Triple P, Standard and Intensive
Triple P, were predicted to have stronger effect sizes on improvements in child behavior
outcomes.
The meta-analysis study methodology included research articles from published
and unpublished primary research on Triple P. Studies were excluded that did not
provided measures of parenting skill, or child behavior, or parent/child well-being on a
measurable scale that provided acceptable measures of reliability and validity. The
researchers’ inclusive study sample was 55, with 17 studies on parents with children
31
regarded as having an emotional, behavioral or developmental problem in the clinically
significant range (Nowak & Heinrichs, 2008). The researchers coded the dependent
variable measures of parenting, child problem behaviors, parental well-being, and
parental relationship quality (Nowak & Heinrichs, 2008). Notably, there were no
measures or discussion of the assessment of parenting need, or a discussion of the extent
to which the Triple P met parents’ needs.
The researchers found significant positive effects for Triple P on measures of
parenting, child problems, and parental well-being (Nowak & Heinrichs, 2008).
Additionally, the positive effects tended to remain stable between post intervention and
follow-up, with no significant general effect size improvements at follow-up. They
concluded that there are “reliable positive effects of Triple P- across all settings, initial
levels of problems . . . for child behavior problems, parenting behavior, and parental
well-being” (Nowak & Heinrichs, 2008, p. 134). Nowak and Henrichs (2008) also
reported that Triple P appeared to be more effective when used with relatively younger
children, and that the program was deemed to be universally applicable to both sexes.
Lastly, a consistent finding was that the more intensive levels of Triple P, Levels 4 and 5,
had larger effect sizes that were explained by the likelihood that the presenting problems
were more severe and had more room for improvement, and parental interest and
motivation for change were high (Nowak & Henrichs, 2008).
Bor, Sanders, and Markie-Dadds (2002) used an experimental design using Triple
P to measure the effects of three treatment conditions at three intervals of time, pre-, post-
intervention (postvention), and 1-year follow-up. Participating families were randomly
32
assigned to the standard behavioral family intervention (SBFI) from the Triple P
program, enhanced behavioral family intervention (EBFI) from the Triple P program, and
a wait list (WL) control that received no treatment.
The participating samples included 87 families with children between the ages of
36 and 48 months of age. Participating families were selected who had a child exhibiting
disruptive behavior, attention, and hyperactive problems (Bor et al., 2002). Additionally,
the authors noted participant families must present with one of several family risk factors:
(1) maternal depression as measured by a significant score on a standardized depression
assessment, (2) Relationship conflict as measured on a standardized measure of
relationship problems, (3) single parent households, and (4) low gross family incomes or
low occupational prestige.
The Standard Behavioral Family Intervention (SBFI), based on Standard Triple P
Level 4, trained parents on core child management strategies, such as use of quality time,
talking with children, physical affection, praise, and behavior charting, to name a few.
Additionally, parents were taught a six-step activity planning strategy to promote
integration, maintenance, and generalization of the learned parenting skills (i.e., plan
ahead, decide on rules, select engaging activities, decide on rewards and consequences,
and hold a follow-up discussion with child) (Bor et al., 2002). Parents participated in ten
parent education sessions to actively practice skill building using published Triple P
workbook materials.
The Enhanced Behavioral Family Intervention (EBFI) condition included all
SBFI parent training components with two additional components: Partner Support
33
Training (PST) used to intervene to reduce marital conflict, and Coping Skills Training
(CST) used to improve parental adjustment (Bor et al., 2002). The PST in the EBFI
aimed to build parent skills to work more effectively with their partners to raise their
child. Skill building activities were directed toward improving inter-parent
communication, increasing consistency in the application and use of positive parenting
strategies, and providing support for their partner’s parenting. The supplemental CST
component used cognitive conceptualization methods to teach parents relaxation, self-
monitoring, and positive self-talk planning.
The researchers used a variety of instruments to quantitatively measure the study
constructs, at pre-intervention, postvention and one-year follow-up (Bor et al., 2002). For
example, there were measures of family background including items measuring financial
difficulty, characteristics of family of origin, criminal history, family violence, and prior
use of drugs or alcohol. The researchers measured child attention and hyperactivity using
a structured diagnostic interview. Negative parent (mother) and child behaviors were
assessed with an interval time sampling observation of mother and child.
Overall, the researchers found significant benefit from parental participation in
BFI of varying degrees of intensity on parental perceptions of childhood disruptive
behaviors, increased parenting skills, and on parents overall satisfaction relative to a
comparison control (Bor et al., 2002; Sanders, Turner, & Markie-Dadds, 2002). The
EBFI condition was not found to be superior to the SBFI program on any of the outcome
measures. Both the EBFI and SBFI intervention conditions were significantly related to
lower levels of mother reported disruptive child behavior relative to the WL. The EBFI
34
condition was significantly related to lower rates of observed negative child behavior
compared to the WL. Further, both EBFI and SBFI resulted in significant improvements
in parenting skills and satisfaction relative to the WL condition. There were similar
levels of change for both SBFI and EBFI on measures of decreased parental conflict from
pre to post-assessment. Both the EBFI and SBFI conditions maintained outcomes at
postvention and at one-year follow-up with the researchers concluding that the more
intensive and costly EBFI condition not found to be superior to SBFI.
Notable in the Bor et al., (2002) study is the absence of any parental needs
assessment. The researchers administered quantitative structured interviews to parents
with forced choice response options, or clinical protocols that measured particular
perceptions based on the researchers’ perception of what was important to measure.
Parental satisfaction with the program was assessed in this study at post-intervention;
however, that information was used for summative evaluation of the parent satisfaction
after completion of the program, not as a formative tool to adapt program content and
method to directly address parent self-reported needs.
In another empirical research study, Bodenmann, Cina, Ledermann, and Sanders
(2008) used a true experimental design measuring the efficacy of Triple P compared with
an alternate marital distress program and a wait list (WL) control group. Their approach
was guided by the empirical finding that the two most powerful predictors in negative
child behaviors are the quality of the marital relationship and parenting behaviors
(Bodenmann et al., 2008). The researchers predicted that the Triple P treatment would
have more powerful effects on child outcomes than an empirically validated marital
35
distress program Couples Coping Enhancement Training (CCET), and in comparison to a
WL control (Bodenmann et al., 2008).
The research was conducted on non-English speaking European participants in
Switzerland. The researchers focused data collection on quantitative construct measures
of parenting and relationship quality (Bodenmann et al., 2008). The researchers did not
assess parenting needs prior to treatment, nor did they evaluate the extent to which the
treatment conditions met those needs. The participant population initially included 150
couples living in Switzerland with children between 2 and 12-years-old (mean age 6.6-
years-old). Bodenmann et al. (2008) utilized a randomized controlled trial with a 1-year
follow-up design. Participants completed questionnaires at four intervals: (1) pre-test, (2)
two weeks post-treatment, (3) six months post-treatment, and (4) one-year post-treatment.
The WL control group completed questionnaires at the same time intervals and
participant mothers and fathers were asked to complete questionnaires independently in
all conditions.
The Triple P treatment group participated in Standard Triple P Level 4, which
included eight sessions of individual, group, or self-help model sessions (e.g., four
workshop, four telephone sessions). In addition, parents received a workbook that
contained key learning principles and homework exercises. The CCET treatment was
framed as a marital distress prevention program with the primary goal to improve marital
competencies. The program was based on the theories of stress and coping, and social
learning principles where parents learn communication and problem-solving skills, as
well as individual and dyadic coping strategies (Bodenmann et al., 2008). The CCET was
36
delivered in a 15-hour weekend seminar with course material delivered in conjunction
with skill-building activities.
Bodenmann et al. (2008) confirmed their primary hypothesis that Triple P was an
effective parenting education program for strengthening parenting competencies and for
improving child behavior as measured on their rating scales (Bodernmann et al., 2008).
The researchers concluded that the Triple P intervention resulted in positive effects in
women on parenting behavior, satisfaction with their own parenting, and decreased
perception of burdens associated with parenting. Triple P was also found to significantly
decrease the rate that mothers’ reported child problem behaviors. The Triple P treatment
group outcome effects were more powerful as measured by effect size than both CCET
for couples and the WL conditions. The dosages of the Triple P and CCET treatments
were reportedly similar; however, the researchers concluded that Triple P had a
significantly higher impact on parenting variables than CCET (Bodenmann et al., 2008).
Ultimately, the Triple P treatment was viewed as culturally accepted in a non-English
speaking European country and resulted in significant positive effects in mothers
compared to a CCET program and WL control.
The Triple P-Positive Parenting Program examples discussed above included a
comprehensive contemporary meta-analysis (Nowak & Heinrichs, 2008) and two
relatively recent experiments using randomly assigned participants to a Triple P treatment
and a control (Bodenmann et al., 2008; Bor et al., 2002). In the Triple P intervention, it is
clearly evident that parental needs are not formally evaluated as a normal aspect of
identifying parenting concerns (e.g., Sanders, Markie-Dadds, Tully, & Bor, 2000; Turner,
37
Richards, & Sanders, 2007). Even under experimental conditions, Triple P participating
parents are not asked what specifically they want or need as a parent from a parenting
education program. Rather, the Triple P program participants are evaluated on what
researchers’ believe are important constructs and parents are left to apparently self-select
into a program level depending on the intensity of child behavior problems or the
availability of a given Triple P program level.
1-2-3 Magic. A second example of a behavioral theory-based parent education
program is 1-2-3 Magic (Phelan, 1993). In a thorough examination of the empirical, peer-
reviewed research body, there were only a few studies using 1-2-3 Magic program as a
parent education treatment. In one experiment using the 1-2-3 Magic parent education
program, researchers assigned participants to a brief, four-session treatment condition, or
a wait list (WL) control condition (Bradley, Jadaa, Brody, Landy, Tallett, Watson, et al.,
2003). The parent education program model in the Bradley et al. (2003) experiment used
a group-discussion approach with the video component of 1-2-3 Magic in the first three
sessions to teach parents simple behavioral-based methods to respond to and manage
child misbehavior. The strategies taught in the program included timeouts and rewards,
and also emphasized the importance of eliminating ineffective parenting behaviors such
as yelling, hitting, and making hostile comments (Bradley et al., 2003).
The researchers’ findings indicated that the 1-2-3 Magic parent education
program was effective in reducing parent self-reported measures of irritability, anger,
failing to enforce rules, arguing, and ineffective talking (Bradley et al., 2003). The
effects on participant parents were long-lasting and found to be maintained at one-year
38
follow-up. Relevant to the current research, Bradley et al. (2003) did not
comprehensively assess parental need prior to the initiation of the research project.
Instead, the researchers used the brief-psychoeducational model in group discussion
format to present the behavioral theory-based parenting strategies, irrespective of
parenting needs.
Nonbehavioral theory-based parent education programs. Popular nonbehavioral
theory parent education programs are primarily Adlerian or Rogerian theory-based
programs (Nystul, 1982). Dreikurs and Soltz (1964) applied the Adlerian model to
parenting and their work forms the foundation of an alternative branch in the parent
education industry to the behavioral movement. The Adlerian model emphasizes
parenting style (e.g., autocratic, permissive, democratic), parent-child relationships, and
child motivators of behavior and misbehavior. At the core, there is a belief that the most
functional families are run as democratic-based organizations that are grounded in family
members’ development of mutual respect for each other (Fashimpar, 2000). From the
Adlerian perspective, there are several primary goals of parenting that includes helping
children become responsible, cooperative, and courageous. Parenting programs based on
Adlerian theory aim to help parents to develop empathy and understanding toward their
children with regards to how they think and behave in the world (Dembo, Sweitzer, and
Lauritzen, 1985). Lastly, the Adlerian model explains child misbehavior as motivated by
four mistaken goal driven behaviors: (1) attention seeking, (2) power seeking, (3) revenge
seeking, and (4) displays of inadequacy (Dreikurs & Soltz, 1964; Dreikurs & Cassel,
1972).
39
In addition to teaching parents the democratic family philosophy and the four
goals of misbehavior, Adlerian parenting programs teach parents strategies for family
management, such as collaborative problem-solving, active listening, and clear and
honest communication (Dinkmeyer & McKay, 1973; Dreikurs & Cassel, 1972;
Fashimpar, 2000). Parents are taught how to integrate a democratic parenting style,
shifting the autocratic or authoritarian power structure of parents over children and
adolescents to a more balanced authority structure. This fundamental shift is
hypothesized to allow children and adolescents to experience the world as a more
autonomous individual who takes control and ownership of their own achievements and
who conversely face their own natural and logical consequences for any misbehavior
(Fashimpar, 2000).
One of the most popular Adlerian based parent education programs is Systematic
Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) (Dinkmeyer & McKay, 1976; Dinkmeyer,
McKay, & Dinkmeyer, 1997). Noller and Taylor (1989) compared the STEP program
with an alternative parenting program, the Rogerian-based Parent Effectiveness Training
(PET) (Gordon, 1970), on researcher determined outcomes of family functioning. The
researchers explained that the goals of the STEP program were to use Adlerian principles
of problem solving and negotiating to help parents become more democratic in their
parenting style and to apply discipline strategies with children that allow for natural and
logical consequences (Noller & Taylor, 1989). The STEP program shares strategic
features with PET such as teaching parents the use of “I-messages” and active listening
(Dembo et al., 1985). Parents participated in either the STEP or PET programs and
40
completed quantitative questionnaires measuring marital satisfaction, quality of the
parent education course, and parent-child relationships (Noller & Taylor, 1989). Both
STEP and PET were found to generally improve family functioning on the researchers’
measures. Noller and Taylor (1989) did not assess parental self-perceptions of parenting
needs, but rather used quantitative rating scales to measure the researchers’ determined
constructs relevant to family functioning.
Nystul (1982) measured the effects of STEP on measures of democratic parenting
and parental attitudes toward child rearing. There were 28 participant mothers who were
randomly assigned to participation in the STEP program or a wait list (WL) control. All
participants were married Australians of Caucasian ethnicity between the ages of 23 and
50 and were from middle to upper socio-economic range (Nystul, 1982). Nystyl’s (1982)
results indicated that participants in both the STEP and WL groups did not differ on both
quantitative measures at pre-test. On post-test measures, mothers who attended the STEP
program significantly increased their democratic parenting when compared to WL
participants (Nystul, 1982). On the measure of child-rearing practices, STEP
participants’ responses indicated that they significantly increased their encouraging
verbalization and decreased strictness (Nystul, 1982), both indicators of democratic
parenting behaviors.
The Nystyl (1982) experiment is illustrative of typical parental education
research, especially of theory-based program experiments. Researchers measure the
integration of a particular parenting program philosophy, principles, and strategies by
measuring constructs that the researchers’ perceive are related to program content. The
41
research measures are typically more aligned with measuring the program theory,
principles, and strategies, than to any open and honest assessment of parental self-
perception of need.
Dembo et al. (1985) completed a meta-Analysis using ten studies of Adlerian
group parent education programs in comparison to other types of parenting programs
including behavioral and Rogerian theory-based PET (Gordon, 1970). Of the ten
Adlerian theory-based parenting education research studies, seven were based on
Adlerian parent study groups, while the remaining three were based on the STEP
program. Dembo et al. (1985) indicated that the research designs for the various Adlerian
theory-based parenting programs varied for all ten research reports. A reported finding
for the group of Adlerian theory-based parenting programs was a significant positive
relationship between participation in Adlerian parenting programs and measures of
childrearing attitudes; however, child behavior outcomes were not found to have changed
for the group (Dembo et al., 1985). Dembo et al., (1985) were critical of the Adlerian
studies due to methodological weaknesses in all ten studies that ultimately limited
reliability and external validity of the general findings. Specifically, the research studies
on Adlerian based parenting programs as a group lacked follow-up measures, did not
utilize random assignment, did not use comparison controls, and used inadequate
description of procedures (Dembo et al., 1985).
Another popular nonbehavioral theory-based parent education program that was
discussed as a comparison treatment with the Adlerian programs above and shares the
Adlerian philosophy of developing democratic family environments is Parent
42
Effectiveness Training (PET) (Gordon, 1970, 2000). The PET parent education program
teaches parents to develop quality parent-child relationships through unconditional
acceptance of their child’s independent thoughts, feelings, wants, and needs. Parents
learn the PET principles of acceptance and the key conflict resolution strategies of active
listening, “I-messages,” and the “no-lose” communication method to help children
become independent problem solvers (Dembo et al., 1985; Gordon, 2000). The PET
program is comprehensive, with program principles and parenting strategy training that is
designed for parents of children with exceptional needs as well as parents of typical
children. The PET parenting programs are based on the principles and strategies in the
PET book, with a standardized 8-week program administered by a certified PET
instructor (Dembo et al., 1985).
The PET program is theory-based and does not systematically assess parental
education needs, but rather teaches parents program principles to shape parents and
families into the program developers’ perception of a democratic family. The resulting
research body on PET has been primarily based on measuring changes in parent self-
perception and in the integration of the core PET principles of democratic parenting and
various communication strategies (see Dembo et al., 1985; Noller & Taylor, 1989).
Dembo et al., (1985) included 18 research studies on PET in a meta-analysis
comparing PET, behavioral-based parenting programs, and Adlerian theory-based
parenting programs. They noted that only 3 of the 18 PET studies were published, while
the others were master’s theses or doctoral dissertations. As a group, program
effectiveness was primarily evaluated through changes in parental perceptions of
43
parenting attitudes. The studies as a group had methodological problems including the
lack of randomization, using self-report data or single outcome measures, the lack of the
use of control groups, and limited follow-up. Parental perceptions were most commonly
assessed by the use of the Parent Attitude Survey (PAS) that measured parental
confidence, causation, acceptance, understanding, and trust (Dembo et al., 1985). Of the
nine studies using the PAS as an outcome measure, the findings of significance on the
PAS scales and total score varied significantly between studies. One illustrative example
on the PAS scale mentioned in Dembo et al. (1985) is the Understanding Scale. The
principle of building parent-child empathy is an important component in the PET
program that would presumably result in significant positive outcomes on a measure of
parental understanding toward the child. Findings of significance on the PAS
Understanding Scale were only found in four of the seven studies (Dembo et al, 1985),
reflecting limited or inconsistent program effectiveness, methodological problems, or
both.
As discussed earlier and relevant to the current review of literature, Noller and
Taylor (1989) used a comparative analysis PET and STEP and found that both programs
were effective on researcher determined outcome measures. Participants completed
standardized quantitative rating scales of marital satisfaction, course effectiveness on
parent-child and marital relationships, and parental perceptions of change that they would
desire in spousal parenting behaviors. The researchers did not assess parenting self-
perceptions of need, but rather focused on researcher determined measures of family
44
functioning. Both programs were found to be effective in generally improving family
functioning, based on the researcher determined measures of family functioning.
Programs for Parents of Children with Behavior Disorders
There are multiple parent education programs that are not embedded in the
principles of one particular theory, but are designed with an emphasis on delivering
solutions to particular parenting problems. Parents of children with clinically significant
behavior disorders, such as Conduct Disorder (CD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder
(ODD), and moderate to severe Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may
require specialized training to provide the most therapeutic and supportive parenting
environments for their child or adolescent. Some examples of programs for children with
behavior disorders that have been reviewed in the literature include The Incredible Years
(Webster-Stratton, 1984; 2001), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) (Eyberg, 1988),
Parenting Adolescents Wisely (PAW) (Kacir & Gordon, 1999), Behavioral Parent
Training (BPT) (Feldman & Werner, 2002), and Parent Management Training (PMT)
(Kazdin, Siegel, & Bass, 1992). Not all of these programs are group-based parenting
education programs (e.g., PCIT and PAW). Because these parenting programs primarily
focus on child or adolescent behavior problems, researchers used structured and semi-
structured parental interviews, standardized behavior rating scales, and direct
observational data to measured program outcomes. As a group of parenting interventions,
programs designed for intervention with child behavior disorders did not explicitly assess
parenting needs, other than the needs related to the presenting problem behaviors, and
related parental behaviors.
45
The Incredible Years (Webster-Stratton, 1984, 2001) is a video tape-based parent
modeling and discussion program for parents of 3 to 8-year-olds with conduct problems.
The program is standardized, therapist-led, and trains parents on behavioral-based (i.e.,
operant) methods to manage child behavior problems, and communication methods with
their child. The program has been empirically validated as effective in improving child
behaviors by significantly reducing child noncompliance and deviance (Foster,
Olchowski, & Webster-Stratton, 2007; Webster-Stratton, 1984, 2001). The program was
found to improve parental attitudes and behaviors on researcher determined outcome
measures by increasing rates of parental praise while simultaneously reducing parents’
critical statements (Webster-Stratton, 1984, 2001). Additionally, the Incredible Years
program has been found to be equally effective on researcher determined outcome
measures when compared with individual family therapy, but is viewed as superior to
family therapy from efficiency and cost-effectiveness perspectives (Foster, Olchowski, &
Webster-Stratton, 2007; Webster-Stratton, 1984). Lastly, the program has been validated
as effective on researcher determined outcome measures with high-risk populations that
are impacted by circumstances of low SES, single-parent status, and who have had
previous contact with social service agencies related to concerns of abuse.
McIntyre and Phaneuf (2008) proposed the application of The Incredible Years
program to a layered three-tiered problem-solving model framework with varying levels
of intervention intensity, based on the presenting intensity of child behavior problems and
related parental needs. The lowest level of intervention would include self-paced, self-
administered reading and audio materials to help parents strengthen parent-child
46
interactions. The next level of intervention intensity in McIntyre and Phaneuf’s (2008)
proposed model is group-based parent instruction for parents of children with increased
levels of problematic behavior that have failed to remediate with the self-administered
materials. The most intensive level of intervention in McIntyre and Phaneuf’s (2008)
model would be the previous levels of intervention using The Incredible Years materials
with additional individualized skill-building through home-based supports in the natural
environment, including the utilization of methods of video feedback.
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) (Eyberg, 1988) is another parenting
treatment designed for parents of children with significant behavior problems. Parent-
Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a family therapy-based parenting program where a
therapist acts as a coach using electronic or remote means to communicate privately with
the parents, in real-time, during a parent-child play scenario. Parents are coached about
parenting strategies to better manage problematic child behaviors and to improve family
relationships. The program is unique because it combines play-based therapy with
behavioral-based operant conditioning strategies that are individually adapted to the
therapist’s perceptions of the presenting needs of the family (Eyberg, 1988). There is
empirical evidence that PCIT has been effective in improving child disruptive behavior
and parenting skills after treatment and at follow-up (McNeil, Herschell, Gurwitch, &
Clemens-Mowrer, 2005). The PCIT method uses semi-structured clinical interview data
gathered at intake prior to treatment, which informs the therapist about family history,
and child developmental, medical, and social history. There are also data collected using
detailed behavioral analysis of presenting child behavior problems and parental methods
47
to manage the child behavior problems (Eyeber, 1988). Lastly, data are collected using
standardized observational protocols of child behavior and parental stress. At post-
treatment, parents completing PCIT treatment are reassessed with an interview to discuss
changes in the presenting problems, observational data are collected that code parent-
child interactions, the behavior rating scales are completed, and a measure of consumer
satisfaction is taken (Eyeberg, 1988).
These data allow for PCIT practitioners to coach parents on strategies that the
therapist perceives are key parent behaviors that are aimed at simultaneously decreasing
problematic child behaviors and increasing effective parenting skills. Outcomes are
designed to be clear measures of child behavioral change based on observation and rating
scales, parental perceptions of child behavioral change, and the parent’s satisfaction with
the program. Although the therapist assesses the individual family’s needs with several
methods to determine intervention strategies, parental needs are not assessed using open-
ended qualitative methods. Further, there are not any measures to determine the extent to
which the PCIT program met the parent’s self-perceptions of need. Parent-Child
Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is specifically designed as an individualized treatment for
parents of children experiencing significant behavioral problems (i.e., not typical), rather
than a group parenting education model that may be suitable for a more universal
population of parents.
In one study, McNeil et al. (2005) adapted the traditionally individual-family
based PCIT method to a group format with foster parents who presented with child-
rearing skill needs. McNeil et al. (2005) modified delivery of PCIT, traditionally a clinic-
48
based treatment for parents of children with behavior disorders, to be given in a
condensed group format to foster parents of children with behavior disorders. The model
of PCIT is structured around a two-phase approach. The first phase focused on
developing quality parent-child relationships and the second-phase focused on the
development of consistent discipline strategies. Foster parents were assessed on close-
ended standardized measures of child behavior and foster parent training satisfaction, as
well as a structured interview that assessed the integration of the parenting techniques
presented in the training. The researchers found that the modified PCIT group approach
was a viable method of parent education with foster parents and resulted in significant
decreases in child problem behaviors, similar to the individual PCIT treatment approach
(McNeil et al., 2005). Notably absent from the research was an assessment of foster
parents’ self-perceptions of need prior to participation in treatment. Although PCIT as a
parent intervention, delivered individually or adapted for groups, assessed presenting
parent concerns through clinical interview, the intensity of the treatment design is
arguably beyond the dosage required for parents of typical children, the population of
focus in the current research.
Parenting Adolescents Wisely (PAW) is an interactive video-disk, computer-
based program designed to build parenting skills to reduce child and adolescent problem
behaviors in a self-paced format with no professional facilitator (Kacir & Gordon, 1999).
The program is one of the only programs discussed in the literature that is specifically
designed for parents of adolescents who are delinquent or youth considered at-risk (Kacir
& Gordon, 1999). The PAW parenting program shares theoretical principles from family-
49
systems theory that emphasizes family structure and interdependency, cognitive training
that includes family discussions related to parenting behaviors, and other strategies
consistent with the behavioral and nonbehavioral theories discussed above (Kacir &
Gordon, 1999). The Kacir and Gordon (1999) study used the PAW program with parents
of adolescents ranging from no presenting behavior problems, to the majority of
participants (58%) experiencing elevated problem behaviors, as measured by a
standardized behavior assessment. After use of the PAW program, participant parents at
one-month and four-month follow-up reported clinically significant reductions in child
problem behaviors and in the intensity of child problem behaviors relative to a wait list
control group. An important strength of the PAW intervention was that it was self-paced,
designed specifically for intervention with parents of adolescents, and was found to be
effective in reducing parental perceptions of child misbehavior. The program had
weaknesses because it did not assess parental need prior to treatment and the program
imposed the developers’ perceptions of proper parenting practices, irrespective of
presenting parenting skills. Further, the self-paced video format of the program did not
allow for any feedback or adaptation of program components for particular parenting
needs.
Another parent education approach that has been found to be effective in helping
parents to reduce significant child behavior problems is Behavioral Parent Training
(BPT) (Feldman & Werner, 2002). Broadly, BPT is used to address an array of child
behavior problems associated with developmental disabilities and mental health disorders
by teaching parents to utilize behavioral modification technology from the field of
50
functional behavioral analysis (Anastopoulos, Shelton, DuPaul, & Guevremont, 1993;
Fabiano, 2007; Feldman & Werner, 2002; McCart, Priester, Davies, & Azen, 2006).
Parents are taught to analyze child behaviors in an environmental context with setting
events, antecedents, and behavioral consequences that serve to either increase or decrease
the frequency and intensity of problem behaviors (Feldman & Werner, 2002). Behavioral
Parent Training (BPT) as an intervention method is singularly focused on teaching
parents these strict behavioral methods of behavioral management, irrespective of the
possibility of other presenting parenting needs.
Behavioral Parent Training has been used with parents of children diagnosed with
developmental disabilities, ADHD, and conduct disorders (Anastopoulos et al., 1993;
Feldman & Werner, 2002; McCart et al., 2006). Feldman and Werner (2002) used BPT
with parents of children with developmental disabilities and found not only significant
improvements in the reduction of the frequency and intensity of child problem behaviors,
but also in other parental perceptions. Parents in the BPT condition were found to have
lower stress, higher parental efficacy beliefs including the ability to stop child
misbehavior, the ability to prevent problem behaviors, and the ability to teach their child
appropriate replacement behaviors. The researchers also found that BPT participants held
the perception that their child with a developmental disability caused less family
disruption than non-participant parents (Feldman & Werner, 2002). Although the
Feldman and Werner (2002) study measured parental perceptions beyond their child’s
presenting behavior problems, the parent’s needs were not explicitly assessed or used to
support intervention planning.
51
Anastopoulos et al. (1993) used BPT in a true experiment with parents of
children with ADHD and found significant decreases in parental perceptions of stress and
increases in parental self-esteem, as measured on close-ended standardized self-report
measures. They also found significant decreases in problem behaviors related to ADHD
symptoms of participants’ children as measured on two standardized parental perception
measures (Anastopoulos et al., 1993). Parents were not evaluated on any other measures
to assess needs with regards to other aspects of parenting.
McCart et al. (2006) conducted a meta-analysis comparing BPT with cognitive-
behavioral therapy (CBT) for youth with antisocial behavior problems. Of the 30 BPT
studies included in the research sample, the mean effect size was in the medium range,
which is suggestive that these interventions are effective in reducing antisocial behavior
problems in youth. Additionally, McCart et al. (2006) noted that there was a small effect
size outcome for BPT participants on measures of parental adjustment, indicating
reductions in parental distress. In consideration of the context for program delivery, BPT
was found to have significantly higher effect sizes for parents of younger children in the
6 to 12-year-old range, when compared to the CBT study. The meta-analysis did not
report on indicators of parental need or the extent to which either BPT or CBT met parent
self-perceptions of need.
Another related parenting intervention that has been empirically supported in the
literature in addressing behavior problems in children is Parent Management Training
(PMT) (Kazdin et al., 1992). PMT is an individually administered, 16-session program
designed to teach parents to observe and define behaviors and methods of behavioral
52
theory-based management including behavioral reinforcement and punishment
(DeGarmo, Patterson, & Forgatch, 2004). The PMT program goes beyond individual
parent training to include the child’s teacher in a collaborative effort to align school and
home behavior management strategies (Kazdin et al., 1992). The PMT intervention was
found to result in significant improvements in parent perception measures of child
dysfunction, aggression, antisocial, and delinquent behaviors (Kazdin et al., 1992).
These positive effects were observed in multiple contexts at home, school, and in the
community immediately at post-treatment and at a one-year follow-up.
In general, the group of parent education interventions for parents of children or
adolescents with emerging, moderate, and clinically significant behavior problems has
been found to be effective in reducing the frequency and intensity of their problem
behaviors. Within this group of interventions designed specifically address child or
adolescent behavior disorders, it was evident that the most common method for
measuring outcomes were based on measures of parental perceptions of the topography,
frequency, and intensity of the behavior problems. The body of parenting interventions
for children with behavior disorders is primarily designed to decrease those presenting
problems. These programs are efficacious in addressing the parenting need of behavior
management, but often fail to assess other possible areas of parenting need. Relevant to
the current research, child behavioral data alone may not be adequately comprehensive
enough to capture and address the spectrum of parent education needs. For example,
these programs do not assess nor respond to potential parental needs related to academic
achievement, parent-child communication, managing child risk behaviors, or
53
informational needs about child development, instilling parental values, or concerns
related to ethnic, demographic, or cultural differences.
Programs for Abusive Parents
Another parenting intervention domain area is the body of programs that are
designed for parents who have abused or who are at-risk of abuse of their children.
Abusive parents are those who abandon, neglect, physically, or sexually abuse their
children (Bavolek, 2008). Closely associated correlates to abusive adults that have
emerged in the literature include situations of poverty, single parent status, substance
abuse, impulse control problems, and unemployment or underemployment (Lutzger, Van
Hasselt, Bigelow, Greene, & Kessler, 1988). Families involved with Child Welfare
Services (CWS) have higher rates of dysfunction than the parent population at large as
characterized by higher rates of mental health problems, domestic violence, substance
abuse, and financial needs (Barth et al., 2005). Hundreds of thousands of parents across
the United States are reported to local officials annually for concerns related to abuse
(Barth, Landsverk, Chamberlain, Reid, Rolls, Hurburt, et al., 2005). Additionally, close
to half of one million parents who have become involved with CWS are referred to
participate in parent training programs (Barth et al., 2005).
Parent education programs for parents who abuse or who are at-risk of abuse are
generally designed to teach parenting skills, remediate problems associated with abuse,
and to preserve, or reunify families (Barth et al., 2005). In a review of promising
parenting programs for use in CWS contexts with parents who are abusers or at-risk of
abuse, Barth et al. (2005) indicated that several of the programs discussed above were
54
readily adaptable for work with parents who abuse. These included The Incredible Years
(Webster-Stratton, 1984), Parent Management Training (Kazdin et al., 1992), and Parent-
Child Interaction Therapy (Eyberg, 1988).
In the review of parenting programs demonstrating effectiveness in CWS
populations, Barth et al. (2005) recommended the use of one of the only validated parent
education programs with high-risk families in the context of child abuse or neglect, the
program Project 12-Ways (Lutzker, Bigelow, Doctor, & Kessler, 1998). Project 12-ways
is an ecobehaviorally-based, one-on-one parenting program for people involved with
CWS who have abused or neglected their child (Barth et al., 2005; Lutzker et al., 1998).
The ecobehavioral model conducts assessment and treatment within the families’ natural
setting of home, school, and other community settings (Lutzker et al., 1998). The
program developers use treatment strategies that span disciplines and include direct
observation, behavioral assessment and analysis, behavioral therapy, and humanistic
therapy. Services include work on building parenting skills for reducing problem
behavior and improving family relations, stress reduction training, alcoholism referrals,
job finding, money management, and health and safety training (Lutzker et al., 1998).
Several single-case study results reported in Lutzker et al. (1998) indicated that a
replication of 3 of the 12 components of Project 12-Ways were effective in increasing
parents’ healthcare knowledge about raising children, reduced household hazards in areas
where infants or children play, and improved parent-child bonding. These findings were
reported to be preliminary; however, they mirrored the evidence of effectiveness found in
the full Project 12-ways program (Lutker et al., 1998).
55
Parenting programs for parents who abuse aim to reduce risk-factors associated
with abuse. Parenting needs were assessed across known risk-factors in a comprehensive
program designed for abusive parents, as in Project 12-ways, and interventions were
designed to meet parenting needs in the context where the needs existed (Barth et al.,
2005). Parental needs of parents who abuse or who are at-risk of abusing are likely very
different from the needs of typical parents. Therefore, parent education programs that are
efficacious with parents who abuse may not address any of the presenting parenting
needs of the average parent.
In summary, behavioral theory-based parenting programs focus on teaching
parental reinforcement to increase child pro-social behavior and to decrease misbehavior
(Lundahl et al., 2006; Sanders, 1999; Taylor & Biglan, 1998). Nonbehavioral theory-
based parenting education programs teach principles of democratic parenting and various
strategies for teaching children to become independent, responsible, respectful, and
contributing family members (Dinkmeyer & McKay, 1976; Dinkmeyer, McKay, &
Dinkmeyer, 1997; Fashimpar, 2000; Gordon, 1970, 2000; Nystul, 1982). It is apparent
that the peer-reviewed literature body of theoretically-based parent education programs
reviewed above failed to assess the parenting needs of participating parents.
Theoretically-based parent education programs have at their core a unified belief system
that includes an overarching parenting philosophy, and more specific principles, methods,
and strategies that the program designers likely assume respond to most parent self-
perceptions of need.
56
There are additional parent education programs that are designed primarily for
specific populations, such as children with behavior disorders (e.g., The Incredible Years,
Parenting Adolescents Wisely, Behavioral Parent Training, etc.) or parents who are
abusers or at-risk of abuse (e.g., The Nurturing Parenting Program, Project 12-Ways).
These programs are generally eclectic in nature and are focused on solving presenting
client problems, rather than being fully embedded in one theoretical framework. Similar
to theoretically-based parent education programs, parenting interventions designed to
address specific problems also fail to utilize broad-based needs assessment methods to
identify parental need themes that may be of concern to the parent. Rather, there is a
singular focus on the assessment of the specific presenting problem such as the behavior
challenges or the nature of the abusive parenting, as opposed to a more global needs
assessment that may open the parent to parallel streams of support.
Existing Assessments of Parent Needs
The literature discussed above outlines popular parent education programs that are
theoretically-based or designed to deliver solutions to particular parenting problems such
as childhood behavior disorders or parents who abuse. In general, the parenting programs
reviewed in the peer-reviewed research literature did not assess parent needs. Several
research studies assessed parental satisfaction with the parenting program, post-hoc (see
Bor et al., 2002; Sanders et al., 2000; Webster-Stratton, 1984). These data are useful to
program providers to determine the extent to which a particular program was satisfying
or worthwhile to the participant. It is an important distinction that program satisfaction
measures address the program where a parental needs assessment focuses on the parent.
57
The behavioral theory-based parenting programs, Triple P (Sanders, 1999) and 1-
2-3 Magic (Phelan, 1990), did not directly assess parenting needs. The most commonly
measured construct that emerged in the research literature was the measurement of
perceptions of child behavior problems. Child behavior problems are likely catalysts for
parents to seek out extra-familial supports in parenting programs. The most frequent
method for measuring parent perceptions of child behavior problems in the literature was
the use of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inentory (ECBI) (Bodenmann et al., 2008; Bor et
al., 2002; Bradley et al., 2003). The ECBI is a quantitative, internally and externally
reliable 36-item parent report that measures the intensity of problem behaviors on 7-point
scale, and determines the extent to which the behaviors are problems on yes or no items
(Bor et al., 2002).
Similarly, the nonbehavioral theory-based programs, such as STEP (Dinkmeyer &
McKay, 1976; Dinkmeyer et al., 1997) and PET (Gordon, 1970, 2000), did not assess
parent education needs. These programs emphasize an overarching philosophy of
democratic parenting, parent perceptions of parenting skill, family dynamics, and parent-
child interactions. The empirical research measures selected for the nonbehavioral
theory-based programs in the literature body were measures of those constructs. For
example, parental self-perceptions of marital quality were measured in the Noller and
Taylor (1989) research comparing STEP and PET using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale.
The Dyadic Adjustment Scale is a 32-item widely used, reliable, and valid assessment. In
Nystul’s (1982) research on the effects of STEP on parental attitudes, he used measures
of democratic parenting, the Attitude Toward Freedom of Children Scale-II, and The
58
Parent Attitude Research Instrument Q
4
. Both instruments measured constructs related to
the theory and principles of the STEP program. These types of measures were typical for
nonbehavioral theory-based parenting program measures.
The parenting programs that are designed to meet the needs of special
populations, such as children with behavior disorders, or parents who abuse, utilized
assessment technology that measured aspects of those dependent variables. Similar to the
behavior theory-based programs, programs designed specifically for children with
behavior disorders, such as The Incredible Years (Webster-Stratton, 1984, 2001), used
measures to assess the construct of child behavior. The Webster-Stratton (1984) research
study on the comparative effects of The Incredible Years parenting program in
comparison to individual treatment used two standardized parent rating scales of child
behavior, the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (ACBL), and the Eyberg Child
Behavior Inventory (ECBI). Observational data was also typically used in the assessment
of child behaviors. In research on parenting programs for parents who abuse, diverse
data were collected in terms of family demographics, child behaviors, and parent
competencies and weaknesses. Parents who abuse or are at-risk of abusing may be
offered programs and services that are not likely to assess diverse parenting needs from
the parent’s point of view (e.g., Lutzker, Bigelow, Doctor, & Kessler, 1998). In CWS
cases, parents are typically evaluated on their participation and completion of the parent
education program, not necessarily on any measure of changing parenting behavior
(Barth et al., 2005). Barth et al. (2005) made the point that not all CWS referred parents
require parent education programs and a blanket referral for all parents completely
59
ignores the actual needs of parents and the array of potential solutions other than a
parenting program.
It is evident that as a general rule, research conducted on existing parent education
programs measure constructs that the researchers’ perceive are important to measure.
Existing programs have been developed and validated on the premise that the course
content affects change in one or more outcome variable deemed important to the program
developers. Because existing parenting programs do not align assessments of parent
education needs to their parenting intervention, stand alone needs assessment data must
be reviewed in order to more fully ascertain parenting needs.
Existing Stand Alone Needs Assessment of Typical Parents
In the peer-reviewed research literature, there are no parent education needs
assessments that utilize qualitative approach on a diverse sample of parents of typical
children or adolescents. The current study was a response to the proposed research in the
literature review of Clark et al. (2007), where the reviewers’ suggested that there is an
information gap in the literature body in understanding the needs of parents of typical
children and adolescence. One example of an unpublished Master’s Thesis that was a
precursor to the current research study aimed to identify the needs of parents of typical 6
to 10-year-olds (Kuhl, 2007). The researcher utilized similar qualitative methods, with a
narrative online survey as the primary data source for extracting parent needs. Parents
were randomly recruited in public locations and asked to complete a survey to generate
themes of needs. The researcher concluded that parents of typical children have needs in
understanding developmental milestones and practical strategies of parenting (Kuhl,
60
2007). Although these findings were not subjected to the rigors of peer-reviewed
publication, they provided an important impetus for the current research.
Strom (1985) conducted research that is similar to the current research design,
using an open-ended survey of parents to identify their parenting needs for the
development of parent education programs. In addition to the parent participants, the
researcher used teachers’ perceptions and children’s perceptions of parenting needs
information on measures of concern in parenting and parental potential. Strom’s (1985)
parent participants were from the middle- to upper-socio-economic class in Scottsdale,
Arizona. Participant parents, children, and teachers included a fully vertical school-aged
population spanning kindergartners through 12
th
grade. On the open-ended written
survey, Strom (1985) asked the following six survey questions of his participants:
1. “What are some things about being a parent that you find very satisfying at
this stage of your child’s life” (p. 162)?
2. “Of all the many things you have to do as a parent, which do you think you do
especially well” (p. 162)?
3. “What do you think you as a parent should be helping your child learn at
home” (p. 163)?
4. “Thinking about your own child, what are some things about childrearing that
you find most difficult at this time” (p. 163)?
5. “What are some things your child does that frustrate you the most” (p. 163)?
6. “As you observe your child, what problems do you see the youngster having
that you could use more information about” (p. 163)?
61
Strom (1985) administered his survey to over 1,200 participants. He used
grounded theory to code and analyze emerging themes in parenting potential and
concern. The findings revealed the parenting potential and concerns from equally
weighted responses of the three participant groups, parents, students, and teachers.
Therefore, the needs research was not purely an assessment of parental perception of
needs. The concern findings, most relevant to the present research are the best proxy for
parenting needs. The key findings reflected concerns that parents, teachers, and children
from kindergarten through 12
th
grade were most concerned about managing conflict, and
relating to peers. Parents of adolescents in 7
th
to 12
th
grades expressed additional
concerns about drugs and alcohol, while parents of kindergarten through 6
th
graders were
concerned about finding time together (Strom, 1985). There were limitations to the Strom
(1985) research for two primary reasons. First, the participant population were from a
middle- to upper-SES demographic sample and the findings were based on multiple
responder groups, including parents, teachers, and children. Because Strom (1985) gave
equal weight for each group in the data analysis, extracting the pure parenting needs from
the published research article becomes difficult.
As part of the Raising Healthy Children (RHC) program, parents of participating
children were surveyed to incorporate their preferences into program planning prior to
program implementation (Haggerty et al., 2002). They were essentially asked what they
wanted to learn about in a parenting education program. In addition to the parents being
asked about topics to be covered in the workshops, they were asked about barriers for
participation (i.e., transportation and child care), and willingness to attend workshops
62
being offered. Haggerty et al. (2002) found that 90% of respondents wanted to know
how to support their child’s academic development, 85% wanted to know about how to
better communicate with their child, 79% wanted to know about setting limits, and 78%
on handling misbehavior.
Sanders, Markie-Dadds, Rinaldis, Firman, and Baig (2007) used structured phone
interview data to assess parents on child behavioral problems and prevalence, parental
risk factors (e.g., depression, perceptions of the parenting role), protective factors, and
parent-child relationship quality. These factors may be indicative of parent education
needs; however, they do not represent a pure parent needs assessments as described in the
current research. Participants included over 4,000 parents or primary caregivers with
children age 12 or less who were randomly sampled from both listed and non-listed
phone numbers. The researchers used a scripted structured interview to assess family
demographic variables, such as age and sex of family members, household income,
marital status, and residential status from urban to rural. Children’s behaviors were
assessed by Likert-scale type questions that had parents rate their perceptions of child
behavior assessing for emotional or significant behavior problems over the previous 6
months. The parents were also assessed on how likely they were to use effective or
ineffective strategies of parenting, based on a Likert-scale type questions. They
additionally assessed parent perceptions of depression, stress, and positive or negative
aspects of their parenting roles (Sanders et al., 2007). Lastly, the family protective factors
were assessed with Likert-scale type and yes/no items measuring parental self-efficacy,
help-seeking and participation in parenting programs, and parental social support.
63
The findings of the Sanders et al. (2007) phone survey data indicated that 29% of
parents reported emotional or behavioral problems in the past 6 months. Parenting
experiences were reportedly predictive of the findings that their child had an emotional or
behavioral problem; parents perceiving that their child had a problem were less confident
as parents and thought that parenting was less rewarding (Sanders et al., 2007). In
consideration of demographic variables, parents reporting single-parent status were found
to be twice as likely to report a self-perception of a child having a behavior or emotional
problem. Another interesting finding was that oldest children in families with two or
more children were rated by care providers as being 50% more likely to have emotional
or behavioral problems (Sanders et al., 2007). Low SES families were also significantly
more likely to report child behavior and emotional problems, relative to other SES
groups. Relevant to the present research, 9% of all caregivers had consulted a
professional regarding their child’s behavior in the previous year, with 25% of the parents
who responded that their child had an emotional or behavior problem seeking out a
professional (Sanders et al., 2007). Lastly, of all participants, 22% of respondents had
participated in a parenting education program at any time in the past.
The Sanders et al. (2007) research measured a large sample to estimate population
level aspects of parenting needs. The researchers strengthened their data collection
through the use of demographic variables, large sample size, and assessing an array of
potential parental perceptions. The findings were limited because the participant data
was collected by structured interview questions that did not offer open-ended responses.
64
These data may lose important parenting needs themes that would have emerged in a
more open-ended, semi-structured, qualitative approach to analysis.
Ralph, Toumbourou, Grigg, Mulcahy, Carr-Gregg, and Sanders (2003) used a
survey assessment to identify parent and child needs for the development of parent
education programs with the goal of reducing late-onset delinquency. The researchers
measured responses of parents of 12 and 13-year-olds across 7 domains, including
undesirable adolescent behaviors, desirable adolescent behaviors, weekly adolescent time
use, parents’ emotional dependence on adolescent behavior, family conflict, mental
health, and parent demographics (Ralph et al., 2003). The researchers sent home the
survey to parents of first-year high school students from urban and suburban areas of
Australia, with a 32% response rate for the urban set and a 25% return rate for the
suburban parents (Ralph et al., 2003). These low response rates were discussed as a major
limitation to the generalizability of the findings. There was no indication that the survey
findings collected child information regarding participation in gifted or special education
programs, indicators of typical child status.
The researchers’ identified the most common results in the survey were problems
with sibling conflict, and other undesirable behavior such as watching television, not
enough exercise, and peer influence (Ralph et al., 2003). Additional problems included
conflict with parents such as arguing and talking back, moodiness, and irritability. The
most common element that parents indicated that they wanted help or advice with in
regards to raising their young adolescents was in the area of emotional management.
Emotional management was characterized as helping the adolescent learn to negotiate to
65
obtain desires while maintaining emotional control, and self-regulatory mood
management strategies that helped the adolescent not act out towards others (Ralph et al.,
2003).
Ralph et al. (2003) reported that parents self-reported that their early adolescent
children are unsupervised for a portion of their day or at some point during the week.
They indicated that the lack of supervision is a major risk factor for delinquency and
should be considered for informational purposes in future parent education programs. The
researchers found that many parents expressed substantial emotional concerns over their
teenager’s welfare. Further, the researchers suggested that parents may need to work on
redefining their parent-adolescent relationships to facilitate their adolescent’s
development of autonomy and independence. Consistent with other needs assessment
findings, the demographic variable of poverty was associated with more severe
adolescent behavior problems (Ralph et al., 2003).
The parent needs literature shared the findings that parents of children and
adolescents throughout the dependent developmental span have needs or concerns about
how they parent (Dumas et al., 2007; Ralph et al., 2003; Sanders et al., 2007; Strom,
1984). The type of parenting needs vary across ethnic and demographic variables,
discussed in more detail below. Further, parenting needs change depending on the age of
the child or adolescent, the presence and intensity of emotional or behavioral problems,
and in relation to the parents’ self-perceptions of competence.
66
Ethnic and Demographic Differences in Parenting Needs
The purpose of the present research project is the assessment of parent education
needs of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds from an urban, ethnically and
demographically diverse population. This research used several key indicators that are
believed to be salient demographic variables in parenting research, including parent
ethnicity, parent socio-economic status (parent income and parent education), parental
age, parenting structure (e.g., single, married, partner, etc.), parent gender, and number of
children in the household (Braveman, et al., 2005; Hughes, 2003; Marek, Brock, &
Sullivan, 2006; Owens, Richerson, Murphy, Jageleweski, & Rossi, 2007). Parenting
programs as a group have been primarily validated with parents of Caucasian ethnicity
(Reid, Webster-Stratton, & Beauchaine, 2001). Researchers have expressed concerns that
parenting programs developed and validated with parents of Caucasian ethnicity and of
middle or upper SES do not adequately address the parenting needs of ethnically and
demographically, and culturally diverse parent populations (Gorden-Rosen, Rosen, 1984;
Owens et al., 2007; Reid et al., 2001).
In discussing the important elements of effective parent education programs,
Marek, Brock, and Sullivan (2006) indicated that parenting programs must be socio-
culturally relevant. Currently, there are national initiatives to enhance parenting programs
in response to consumers’ needs, values, and preferences, and to disseminate programs
equitably to previously underserved populations (Owens et al., 2007). Marek et al. (2006)
stressed the importance of parenting program providers “becoming familiar with the
targeted populations’ cultural values and their unique circumstances prior [italics added]
67
to implementation” (p. 115). The rationale for matching parenting program components
to participants’ socio-cultural status is a concept that is building an empirical base (see
Marek et al., 2006; Owens et al., 2007; Reid et al., 2001; Leung, Sanders, Leung, Mak, &
Lau, 2003).
There are important reasons to explore the unique needs of parents across diverse
ethnic and demographic variables when researching and developing parent education
programs. Several key reasons include the desire to increase parent program enrollment
rates, increase parent engagement with the program process, increase program
completion rates, and to increase the likelihood that new parenting skills will be
integrated, implemented, and utilized over time (Dumas, Nissley-Tsiopinis, & Moreland,
2007; Reid et al., 2001). The question about whether to utilize an adaptation of a
currently validated parent education program or to develop entirely new parenting
programs based on varying parent preferences, needs, and values has not been resolved in
the research body to date. The logical starting point of the current research was to identify
and articulate parenting needs themes and salient alignments in need across various
demographic variables, if they emerge.
Leung et al. (2003) conducted a study of the Anglo-Australian (Western) based
Triple P parenting education program with a population of Chinese parents in Hong
Kong. The researchers used a true experimental design, randomly assigning participants
to the Triple P program or a wait list (WL) control condition. Leung et al. (2003)
identified important cultural differences between Chinese parents and western parents
that were considered relevant socio-cultural factors in the parent training. In general,
68
Chinese parents as a group engage in a more authoritarian parenting style, characterized
by restrictiveness and an expectation that children will obey and respect elders (Leung et
al., 2003). Further, relative to western parenting behaviors, Chinese parents were
described as not encouraging of children’s expressions of independence or of personal
opinions.
The final participant sample consisted of 69 mothers, with 33 participating in
either Triple P Level three or four, and the remaining 36 were in the WL condition
(Leung et al., 2003). All participants included in the data analysis completed an array of
standardized forced-choice or Likert-scale assessments that measured the constructs of
parent perceptions of child behavior, discipline styles, parental competence, parental
relationship quality, and parental satisfaction with the program. The researchers’ findings
indicated significant positive effect on reductions in parent perceptions of child
misbehavior. The Triple P participants also had higher self-perceptions of parenting
competence with a concurrent significant decrease in dysfunctional parenting overall
(Leung et al., 2003). The researchers concluded that the Triple P intervention was
effective in reducing parental perception of child misbehavior and in creating a more
harmonious family environment for Chinese parents living in Hong Kong (Leung et al.,
2003). Relevant to the current study, although the researchers did not assess parental need
prior to the intervention, the findings were promising in that they indicated that an Anglo-
Australian-based parenting model was effective in enhancing outcomes on researcher
determined dependent variables.
69
A qualitative research study that utilized focus group methodology with families
in the Appalachian culture shared aspects of the current research methodology (Owens et
al., 2007). The researchers characterized the Appalachian culture, although within the
United States borders, as one that differs significantly from traditional Anglo-American
culture. Members of the Appalachian culture traditionally exceed national rates of
poverty and unemployment. Salient cultural differences inherent in Appalachian parents,
such as having close kinship networks, fear of judgment from mental health
professionals, and a general cultural distrust of others are vital considerations in the
implementation of parenting programs (Owens et al., 2007).
Marek et al. (2006) also conducted research on members of the Appalachian
culture. They identified salient socio-cultural differences in need between traditional
Anglo-American-based family intervention programs and people from the Appalachian
culture. In general, people from the Appalachian culture were characterized as practical
and independent and they traditionally avoided book learning and lecture-style instruction
formats. The researchers modified the delivery of the Strengthening Families Program
(SFP), a multi-component program with child, parent, and family skills training (Marek
et al., 2006). The SFP teaches families skills to reduce risks associated with problem
child behaviors, such as school failure, mood disorders, violence, and substance abuse.
A total of 101 Appalachian families participated in the SFP research program over
a period of 11 administration cycles (Marek et al., 2006). The first eight cycles were the
unaltered SFP program, while the final three were adapted based on the participant and
facilitator feedback. Parent participants were given a satisfaction survey at the last
70
session and they rated the helpfulness of the program and the extent to which they liked
participating in the program. These data were used in conjunction with program
facilitator feedback information about their perceptions of the program. It is important to
note that the researchers did not assess parent needs directly, but rather measured the
parents’ perceptions of enjoyment of the program and the parents’ beliefs that the
program helped.
The unaltered SFP parent training component involved reading and writing
homework, an aspect that was observed to be associated with an immediate drop in
parent attendance. The SFP was adapted for the final three cycles by reducing the reading
and writing homework load, and replacing it with skills practice and oral reporting
(Marek et al., 2006). The researchers found that the dropout rates decreased significantly
from 30% for the unaltered SFP to 14% after cultural adaptation (Marek et al., 2006).
Another interesting finding was that measures of parent satisfaction with the program
upon completion were not statistically different between the unaltered SFP and the
adapted SFP. The researchers found that regardless of the program, 90% of participants
liked the program and found it beneficial impact on their own parenting skills (Marek et
al., 2006). Marek et al. (2006) concluded that parenting program attendance, engagement,
and completion rates were key indicators of the extent to which the program is aligned
with participants’ culture (Marek et al., 2006).
In another study, Beckert, Strom, and Strom (2007) surveyed middle-class
adolescents of Black, Hispanic, and White ethnicity to identify the parenting strengths
and needs of their mothers from the adolescents’ perspective. Beckert et al’s (2007)
71
rationale for using adolescents as the data source for the needs assessment was that the
son or daughter was in a unique position as both a close family member and a parent
observer to identify needs (Beckert et al., 2007). The aim of the research was to identify
parenting competencies and learning needs in Black, Hispanic, and White parents, from
the adolescents’ perspective. The researchers used a cross-cultural approach to identify
differences between the three ethnic groups across an array of six dependent variables
that included the communication, use of time, teaching, frustration, satisfaction, and
information needs. Participant adolescents completed a 60-item Likert-type instrument
that rated parent strengths and weaknesses across the dependent variables.
The Beckert et al. (2007) findings indicated statistically significant results that
White adolescents rated their mothers higher than both Black and Hispanic adolescents’
mothers on the mothers’ use of parenting time. Additionally, the researchers found that
Black and Hispanic adolescent responses indicated that their mothers need to have more
parenting information about how to help their adolescents identify and explore career
options. All three ethnic groups of students indicated that there was a parental need for
understanding human development at the adolescent age, and a related concern about the
need for communication with the adolescent on the subject of dating (Beckert et al.,
2007). The Beckert et al. (2007) findings offer some important implications for future
parent education programs for middle-class Black, Hispanic, and White parents of
adolescents. The researchers indicated that the significantly different ratings between the
three ethnic groups warrant the development of individual parenting curriculum to
directly address the adolescents’ perception of parent needs. For Black and Hispanic
72
parents, this may mean a parenting program that helps mothers to learn how to increase
parenting time, and help their adolescent be successful in school and to explore career
options information (Becker et al., 2007). All groups of parents would benefit from
learning about adolescent development and communication about the adolescent dating
others (Becker et al., 2007).
In a meta-analysis of 63 peer reviewed parent training studies, SES was found to
be one of the most powerful moderators of parental and child outcomes in parent training
(Lundahl, Risser, & Lovejoy, 2005). Parents from lower SES circumstances as a group
had the least beneficial outcomes from parent training programs (Lundahl et al., 2005).
Additionally, individual parent training for parents in low SES circumstances were found
to be superior to group parent training programs. The researchers attributed this finding to
the belief that the parent training programs administered at the individual level are more
responsive to the unique needs of an individual family from a low SES background
(Lundahl et al., 2005). These findings are important to consider when identifying
parenting needs of parents of an urban, demographically diverse sample. Families in low
SES circumstances, characterized by lower parent educational attainment and parent
income, have greater parenting support needs overall (Lundahl et al., 2005) This would
ultimately require the skillful adaptation of a group parent education program curriculum
or the utilization of an individual program that is responsive to the parent’s unique needs.
Reid et al. (2001) proposed that group parent education programs should adapt to
the increased barriers to treatment that accompany families in poverty by providing child
care, transportation, and flexible schedules. In a quasi-experimental research study with
73
culturally diverse parents of children attending a Head Start preschool program, Reid et
al. (2001) measured the effects of The Incredible Years program across salient ethnic and
demographic variables. Their demographically diverse participant sample had significant
representation of White, African American, Hispanic, and Asian American parents. As
mentioned in a previous section, The Incredible Years program is an 8-week group
parenting program that teaches parents to engage in child-directed play, positive
discipline strategies, parental stress management, and other effective parenting strategies
(Reid et al., 2001). The program used video models of children from ethnically diverse
backgrounds engaged in various scenarios. The researchers indicated that the program
has a manual and a unit sequence that can be easily adapted during group discussions to
the individual needs of the participants.
The researchers used a variety of demographic indicators, such as SES, ethnicity,
parent relationship status, and primary language (i.e., English, Spanish, & Vietnamese)
and quantitative measures of parent competencies, child behavior, and parent satisfaction
(Reid et al., 2001). There was a significant ethnicity effect noted at baseline with Asian
mothers having a higher attendance rate than Caucasian mothers. Findings at postvention
indicated that all ethnic groups found the parenting techniques from the parenting
program to be useful. All parents provided more consistent discipline, were less critical,
were more positive, and were rated as more competent in their discipline relative to
control groups (Reid et al., 2001). The researchers attributed the significantly positive
outcomes on parenting behaviors, and reductions in child problem behaviors to the
interactivity of the group context as well as the collaborative nature of the groups (Reid et
74
al., 2001). The implications of the Reid et al. (2001) findings are that programs that are
developed for diverse populations should be adaptable to meet the unique cultural needs
of the participants. These adaptations to The Incredible Years program were performed in
real-time during the program sessions, but not based on any pre-intervention assessment
of parents’ self-perceptions of need.
The current study aims to identify meaningful parenting need themes across
diverse ethnic and demographic variables for two purposes: (a) to determine the
alignment between the content of existing parent education programs with participants’
demographic characteristics, and (b) to inform the development of future parent
education programs that are socio-culturally relevant. The research discussed above was
conducted using various parent education programs with ethnically and demographically
diverse populations, and indicated the vital importance of program alignment with salient
parent differences in need. The current research aims to provide a coherent voice for
urban parents of typical children that may help drive parent education program content to
support quality parenting environments. The end result will hopefully be parent education
programs that are sufficiently comprehensive, adaptable, and effective in meeting parent
needs.
Conclusion
A consistent theme emerged from the review of literature on parent education
programs that the primary consumer of the parenting program, the parent, has had an
almost nonexistent voice in the development of the parent education intervention. The
findings of the current research are believed to be an important contribution to the
75
literature body. First, existing parent education programs can now be evaluated in
reference to the current findings to draw conclusions about the alignment between parent
education needs and program content. Second, the findings may provide source material
to inform the development of future parent education programs that are directly aligned
with parent needs. The research findings may also help parents increasingly benefit from
future parent education programs by adapting programs to be socio-culturally relevant,
cost-effective, and aligned with the parents’ needs (Haggerty et al., 2002; Petersson,
Petersson, and Hakansson, 2004). Under these conditions, parents are included in the
parent education process as collaborative stakeholders with valid preferences, needs, and
values, as opposed to the classical view of parents as patients who are at the core of
family dysfunction.
In the professional world of parent education programs, there does not appear to
be a consensus about the best-practice parenting program theory, principles, or parenting
program strategies. We know that several key variables of family, parent, and child
functioning include the parent’s behavior toward offspring, frequency and intensity of
child behavior problems, child social skills and academic competence, and language
development (Taylor & Biglan, 1998). Most parent education program research used
quantitative methods that imposed the researcher determined dependent variables that
reflected the program developers’ perceptions of what should change as a result of the
parent education programs (Hoard & Shepard, 2005).
In a recent meta-analysis of 12 parent education programs, program effect sizes
ranged from small to large, with the most effective programs containing clear outcome
76
objectives and specifically targeted parenting behaviors (Hoard & Shepard, 2005).
Effective programs targeted parent behavioral practices like using specific
communication with adolescents or care techniques for an infant. Ineffective programs
were more global in scope focusing on broad themes such as drug abuse, without
integrated behavioral change objectives in the program.
In theoretically-based parent education programs and programs for specific child
behavior problems, the most common measurement instruments were quantitative
parental perceptions of child behavior or quantitative direct observational data of child
behavior. Other common measures found in the parent education program research
literature were quantitative forced-choice or Likert-scale type parental stress, parental
satisfaction, parent-child relationship, marital satisfaction, and program satisfaction
measures. There are important strengths to consider with the use of quantitative
comparative data in determining treatment efficacy and effectiveness when conducting
experimental program research (Martens & Eckert, 2001). Program research that uses
quantitative data collection methods can be statistically analyzed to draw conclusions
about the evidence of effectiveness of interventions, the strength of relationships between
variables, the levels of significance in findings, and can help determine effect size on
dependent variables (Yeaton & Sechrest, 1981). Further, quantitative methods lend
themselves easily to potentially generalizing significant findings to external sample
contexts (Patton, 2002). Conversely, there are limitations to the sole utilization of
quantitative instruments when developing a parent education program or measuring the
effectiveness of a program. A particular quantitative instrument may not be sensitive
77
enough to pick up on salient differences in parenting need, specifically detailed in the
participant’s experiences (Creswell, Hanson, Clark Plano, & Morales, 2007; Morrow,
2007). Problems are likely to occur when significant resource capital of time and money
are spent on the development of parent education interventions without first assessing and
understanding parental self-perceptions of need.
Common ground between all parenting interventions is found in the overarching
goal to help parents develop quality parenting environments for their children. Quality
parenting environments emerge from competent and confident parenting. It is the
contention of the present research that parent education programs will best help parents
build parenting competence and develop confidence by directly addressing parents’ self-
perceptions of need. A needs assessment that utilizes a qualitative approach to identify
and articulate parent experiences as themes and sub-themes from a demographically
diverse participant sample offers pivotal data for parent education program selection,
creation, and evaluation. These identified themes may aid future researchers by providing
a coherent understanding of the phenomenological nature of the relationship between:
(a) parental experiences and the parenting environments that they create, and (b) parent
education programs. Lastly, the only reasonable way to measure the extent to which an
existing parent education program aligns with parental needs is to first have a coherent
and comprehensive understanding of parent needs from the parent’s perspective.
Research Questions
The present research was a parent needs assessment that used the qualitative
methods of grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) to identify and articulate parents’
78
perceptions of what they want or need from a parent education program. This research
study used a survey instrument that collected anonymous parent and child demographic
data. The survey included three different question types to determine parent need: (a)
multiple topic-cued written questions; (b) a true open-ended parent needs question; and
(c) a hierarchical ranking item to assess parent education topic importance. This study
focused on directly assessing an urban population of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds
attending public school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). As stated
previously, this research intended to answer the following research questions:
1. What are the needs of parents of typical adolescents of 14 to 17-year-old?
2. How do parent participants’ needs differ in relation to parent gender, age, marital
status, ethnicity, parent income, parent education, and number of children in
household?
3. To what extent do existing parent education programs’ theoretical foundation and
outcome goals align with the identified needs of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-
olds?
It is a further aim of the current research that the findings will help future
researchers to further develop theory and that parenting program developers will design
more efficient and effective parent education programs that meet parents’ needs. The
findings from the current research represented the needs of parents of a narrow age span
of typical 14 to 17-year-olds from a demographically diverse, urban sample of both
English and Spanish speakers. This research is one component part of a body of research
being conducted by three other doctoral candidates utilizing the same survey
79
instrumentation and method with a vertical sample parents of typical 4 to 17-year-olds.
The inclusive data from all four researchers represents a unique model of parent needs
that are: (a) contemporary, (b) span the school-aged spectrum, (c) represent the majority
population of parents of typical children, and (d) from an urban population attending
public school in LAUSD.
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Chapter II
Method
Although there is an array of popular parent education programs available, most
programs do not assess parent needs. Instead, existing parent education programs
generally focus on outcome assessment variables that measures parent learning of theory,
principles, and strategies, irrespective of the parents’ presenting needs. A
disproportionate amount of existing parent education programs are developed and
validated on middle-class Caucasian parents (Reid, et al., 2001). The current research
findings identified salient demographic differences in parent needs. These data will help
future parent education program developers create parent education programs that are
socio-culturally relevant, with the intent of increasing recruitment, engagement, and
successful program completion rates for all participants.
Research Design
The current research is a parent needs assessment based on qualitative methods to
derive new knowledge about parent needs of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds. This
investigation is one component piece of a comprehensive study, conducted with three
other doctoral candidates in a thematic group, spanning parents of typical children
between the ages of 4 to 17-year-olds. All participants were parents of children or
adolescents attending public school in the Los Angeles Unified School District
(LAUSD), a large urban school district in Southern California. The findings represent a
vertical span of school-aged parent needs that filled a knowledge and information gap in
the parent education literature body. The utilization of a multi-component demographic
81
and qualitative parent needs survey with urban parents of typical 4 to 17-year-olds has
not been found in the available peer-reviewed literature body prior to the current
research.
The theoretical framework for data analysis was grounded theory (Creswell et al.,
2007; Haverkamp & Young, 2007; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The fundamental process of
grounded theory is the asking of questions, making comparisons with the findings, and
grounding analysis within the responses of participants (Creswell et al., 2007; Strauss &
Corbin, 1998). Repeating patterns of parent responses on the survey generated parent
needs themes and the data were analyzed across demographic variables, discussed in
detail in the following results section. Data were collected from willing participants,
coded verbatim onto a spreadsheet, and analyzed using established comparison methods
of macro- and micro-analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The data were considered within
a broad national and state context, down to the more local community, school, and
familial contexts.
Ethical considerations. In order to conduct an ethical research study, the current
thematic research team submitted and was approved to conduct research through an
Internal Review Board (IRB) process at a highly competitive, top tier research university
and the participants’ school district. Although detailed demographic data and survey
response information were collected, there was no personally identifiable information
collected that may in any way connect parent responses to participants, children, or
attending school sites. Additional steps to maintain protocol security were taken. All
survey response forms, when collected and not in active use by the researchers, were kept
82
in a locked file cabinet at the research university. The research survey protocol raw data
will be permanently stored in a locked file cabinet for a period of 10 years following the
date of collection.
Participants
Participants in the current investigation were purposefully sampled to represent a
diverse population of parents of typical children from a large urban school district in
Southern California, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Parents of
typical children, those in the middle of the distribution in terms of cognitive and
academic development, were selected because of the findings that there is a
disproportionate number of parent education programs designed for children with
exceptional needs. As previously discussed, typical children were defined as those who
are not identified by school or health professionals as requiring special education services
or as gifted. The parents that responded affirmatively to the item that indicated a child or
adolescent receives special education or gifted services, were not included in the final
data analysis for the current research on parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds.
Detailed enrollment and ethnic distribution percentages for students in LAUSD
are found in Table 1 (Ed-Data, 2009b). The LAUSD is broken down into eight sub-
school districts differentiated by a numeric identifier. Research survey documents were
given to parents in each of the eight local school districts to help build a representative
sample of parents from the entire school district. The LAUSD was selected because it
represents a large, urban, ethnically, and linguistically diverse population of students
numbering more than 690,000 students (Ed-Data, 2009b; see Table 1).
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Table 1: Los Angeles Unified School District Student Enrollment by Ethnicity, 2007-2008
Ethnicity Enrollment Percent of Total
American Indian 2,118 0.3%
Asian 25, 525 3.7%
Pacific Islander 2,537 0.4%
Filipino 15,788 2.3%
Hispanic 506,232 73.0%
African American 75,777 10.9%
White 61,270 8.8%
Multiple/No Response 4,397 0.6%
Total 693,680
The thematic group of researchers conducted research on parents from LAUSD
and the research instrument was disseminated to 1,160 parents, spanning the entire
kindergarten through 12
th
grade population. When the survey documents were
disseminated to parents, the participants’ child’s age and typicality status were unknown.
There were a total of 104 usable surveys of typical 4 to 17-year olds returned to the
thematic research team. The final inclusive sample used for analysis for the current age
span of typical 14 to 17-year-olds was 20, an acceptable sample size for meaningful
qualitative research.
Measures
The research documents include a Research Information Sheet (Appendix A) and
the Parent Education Needs Survey document (Appendix B). Both research documents
were translated into Spanish (see Appendices C and D) to gather parenting needs
information from a more representative body of parents from a linguistically diverse
population. The intent of the Research Information Sheet was to provide informed
consent to potential research participants to protect their well-being. It contained
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information about the investigators conducting the study and their contact information.
The Research Information Sheet also provided information about the age requirements of
participants, the purpose of the study, expected procedures, and potential risks and
discomforts. Additionally, the sheet contained information about potential benefits to
subjects and society, confidentiality, rights of research subjects, participation and
withdrawal, and alternatives to participation.
The Parent Education Needs Survey document (Appendix B) consisted of 13
demographic questions. As previously state, there were no personally identifiable
information collected. Of the 13 demographic information questions, 9 were specifically
intended to elicit responses for comparison of demographic variables and survey
responses to answer the second research question. These nine demographic items
included: (a) parental age, (b) parental sex, (c) parental marital status, (d) annual family
income, (e) parent ethnicity, (f) parental education level, (g) number of children in
household, (h) family structure (e.g., married, widowed, partner, single, etc.), and (i)
sources of parenting information. The remaining items were informational questions
about prior participation and perceptions of previous experiences with parent education,
child’s gender, child’s age, and child participation in special education or gifted
programs. As the review of literature indicated, parental SES, ages of parents or children,
parental education, and family structure have all emerged as important factors for
consideration when developing parent education programs.
The Parent Education Needs Survey (Appendix B) included 10 written response
items that were designed to allow the participant to have the least restricted written
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response possible. The first nine written response items were not true open-ended
questions, as defined in Patton (2002), as they cued the parent to think about a salient
aspect of parenting prior to the response. These nine items were considered cued open-
ended written survey questions that were purposely designed to guide parents to think
about their needs in the following domains: (a) child or adolescent academic progress,
(b) child or adolescent risk taking behaviors (risk behaviors), (c) child or adolescent peer
interactions, (d) parent-child/adolescent communication, (e) child or adolescent
emotional development, (f) family/parent conflict, (g) teaching the child or adolescent the
parent’s values, (h) managing child or adolescent behavior problems, and (i) cultural
concerns related to parenting. The final written response item allowed for parents to have
a truly unrestricted response about their self-perceptions of parent need. The final survey
item asked parents to think about each of the cued items and parent generated open-
response item to create a priority ranking of their top three most important topics to
include in a parent education program from the parent’s perspective. This final
hierarchical ranking item intended to capture the individual parent’s perceptions of
relative topic value or importance.
Procedures
Recruitment. After the research university’s Internal Review Board (IRB) and the
LAUSD IRB gave approval to commence the current research, the investigators worked
with the LAUSD district parent trainers to attend regularly scheduled parent meetings in
the months of March and April 2009. The parent participants were recruited from
LAUSD directly from those attending monthly parent meetings from each of the sub-
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districts. Additionally, another 10-20 Research Information Sheets and the Parenting
Education Needs Surveys were disseminated to each of the parent representatives’ school
with a stamped, self-addressed, envelope for the return of completed surveys to the
researchers. The return envelopes had no personally identifiable information to maintain
participant confidentiality. Parent participants were notified of the regularly scheduled
LAUSD parent meetings from parent meeting schedules and meeting reminder flyers.
There was a range of 20-200 parents present at each of the parent meetings.
Data Analysis
In Strauss and Corbin (1998), various qualitative methods of analysis are
proposed to develop grounded theory. For the current investigation, the survey
documents were collected and the data analysis process proceeded inductively to
construct meaning from the written responses using a combination of macro and micro-
data analysis of the survey items (Morrow, 2007; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The findings
were evaluated across each of the open-ended survey items for repeating patterns to
generate broad themes and sub-themes. Next, the data were analyzed using the participant
demographic variable data. These themes helped the researcher to make propositions and
draw conclusions about the phenomenon of parent education needs of parents of typical
14 to 17-year-old attending school in LAUSD.
Triangulation, or the synthesis and comparison of multiple data sources, is an
important aspect in qualitative research (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997; Patton,
2002). For the current research study, triangulation was achieved through a collaborative
effort in the thematic team to share data across developmental levels. Although each
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researcher used the same method of data collection, including the survey document, each
thematic team member used grounded theory from their particular data set delineated by
child or adolescent age ranges. In sharing themes, the thematic group was able to bolster
validation of the findings across the childhood school-aged developmental spectrum.
Additionally, triangulation was built in the discussion section through reference to
existing literature as outlined in the work of Hill et al., (1997).
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Chapter III
Results
The results section provides a detailed qualitative analysis of the parent education
needs assessment responses on the ethnic and demographic items, written survey items,
and ranking item. All written response and ranking items were analyzed from the
individual and group perspectives for repeating patterns within and between responders,
items, and in relation to participant demographic characteristics. The data analysis
proceeded through several layers of analysis; a matrix spreadsheet was utilized with
horizontal data representing participant responses, and vertical rows separating different
participants. These data were manipulated within the analysis matrix in a systematic way
to extract the essence of parent perceptions of need from multiple perspectives. Response
patterns were viewed from a micro perspective looking for patterns in words and phrases
to extract important information for concept formation based on the methods of grounded
theory (Creswell et al., 2007; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Responses were also examined
from a holistic macro level where participant responses were considered in relation to
broad external ecological contexts such as schools, community, and society at large
(Morrow, 2007).
Participant Sample Characteristics
The final inclusive sample of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds who completed
the survey was 20. Parent participants included the following ethnic distributions:
Hispanic/Latino (n=12); Black/African American (n=4); White/Caucasian (n=1); and bi-
racial ethnicities including Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino (n=1);
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White/American and Indian/Alaskan Native (n=1); and White/Caucasian and Asian
(n=1). In a comparison of the ethnic distributions between the inclusive sample and the
2007-2008 enrollment data in LAUSD, 60% of the inclusive data sample self-identified
as Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, while 73% of the total LAUSD population self-identified as
Hispanic/Latino (see Table 1). Twenty percent of the participant sample self-identified
as Black/African American ethnicity while 10.9% of the total student enrollment in
LAUSD self-identified as African American (see Table 1). Of the 20 completed surveys,
7 required translation from Spanish to English for data interpretation. The parent
participants ranged in age from 30 to 44; however, 1 participant did not respond to the
parent age item. Women represented the vast majority of the completed surveys
numbering 17, with 2 males and 1 participant declined to respond.
The participant sample represented a relatively bi-modal distribution of family
incomes according to parents’ self-report (see Table 2). The distribution of participants
who completed the self-reported item on family income (n=16) included 9 participants in
the $0 to $29,999 range, and 7 in the $60,000 and higher range. There were no
responders who self-reported income in the $30,000 to $59,999 range.
One important note to consider in the ethnic and demographic analyses for each item,
there was one group of participants who appeared to systematically vary from the rest of
the group. These participants were from different households, as determined by the
different number of children indicated in each household; however, they all overlapped
on the two primary SES measures, family income and parent education level, and their
ethnicity. These three participants were in the highest income range, all with family
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incomes more than $100,000 per year, all had Master’s Degrees, and were all of
Black/African American ethnicity. A consistent occurrence in the item analyses was that
these three responders tended to overlap in their responses and perspectives on parent
education need. It is important to interpret this potential systematic difference with
caution because it is difficult to infer the relationship between patterns of responses and
participant characteristics due to overlapping characteristics.
Table 2: Parent Participant Income Distribution
Income Range n
0-$19,999 4
$20,000-$29,999 5
$30,000-$39,999 0
$40,000-$49,999 0
$50,000-$59,999 0
$60,000-$69,999 3
$70,000-$99,999 1
$100,000+ 3
No Response (NR) 4
Presentation of Results
Grounded theory was the primary qualitative methodological approach to data
analysis (Creswell et al., 2007; Hill et al., 1997; Morrow, 2007; Strauss & Corbin, 2002).
Grounded theory is a qualitative method that grounds data analyses within the
participants’ responses to extract meaning to describe participant’s human experiences
(Creswell et al., 2007). The researcher collected all the returned survey documents from
the inclusive sample of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds.
The first step in the data analysis was to separate the response from usable and
non-usable survey documents. There were a total of 19 returned survey documents
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excluded from the final data analysis sample. Survey response forms were excluded for
several reasons. There were 10 survey documents that were excluded because the parent
indicated that their child received special education services or was identified as gifted.
There were two surveys that were returned without the parent completing the typical
status item, thus leaving no way to determine the typicality status of the adolescent. There
were five more survey documents excluded because the parent’s oldest child was above
the age range threshold of the inclusive sample of 14 to 17-year-olds. Lastly, there were
two more returned surveys that were excluded from the final sample because the surveys
were missing significant amounts of information on both demographic data and survey
response items.
Ultimately, parents who indicated that their adolescent did not receive special
education services or was not identified as gifted were assumed to represent the
population of parents of typical adolescents. Only response documents of parents of
typical 14 to 17-year-olds were used in the final data analysis. As previously indicated,
there were no personally identifiable data (i.e., name, child school name) collected on the
research survey documents. As a means to discriminate between surveys for comparison
within the data set, the researcher numbered each survey with a two-digit number from
01 through 20. Each survey was analyzed one survey at a time and all responder data
were copied verbatim into a spreadsheet database. A qualified Spanish to English
translator translated the seven Spanish surveys into English and these responses were
marked on the spreadsheet with an asterisk to indicate that the responses were translated.
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The database also included the participants’ responses from each demographic variable
item (e.g., family income, number of children in household, etc.).
The information discussed below represents a survey item analysis that breaks
down each of the 10 written response items for emergent themes and more discrete and
specific sub-themes. The researcher examined each written response item from multiple
perspectives ranging from the individual response themes to overlapping themes from
multiple responders. After salient themes and subordinate sub-themes were identified
and articulated, each item was then analyzed to identify any themes that differed
according to parent demographic characteristics. Direct written examples of responses
and survey number were also provided as a means to provide support for the inferences
and conclusions drawn from the item response analyses and as a means to discriminate
between participants. The concluding item analysis from the results section summarized
findings from the final survey item, where parents were asked to rank order their top
three parent education topics. These data provide a hierarchy of parent education topic
interest and needs when parenting their typical 14 to 17-year-olds, and are believed to
provide important supplemental data to answer the research questions.
The parent education needs survey used a root and stem method on the written
response items to reduce the language loading of each item and to facilitate item
readability and comprehension. It was the researcher’s intention that the participant
would clearly understand that each written response item was focused on the parent’s
perceptions about each topic in relation to parenting their oldest child. The survey item
root states, “When thinking about your oldest child or adolescent, what would you like to
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learn in a parenting class about. . .” (see Appendices B and D). The remaining nine
written response items completed the question root above with a cued topic determined to
be potentially important parent concerns. The 10
th
written response item allowed for a
true open-ended response without cueing parents to think about any particular parenting
topic when asking about their parent education needs.
Survey Item 1: Academic Progress
The first written survey item completed the written response question root with
the stem, “Their Academic progress (e.g., learning, problem-solving)?” Two broad
themes and several specific sub-themes emerged from the parents’ responses to item 1.
The two main and distinct broad themes were: (1.1) a parent need to support their
adolescent’s current academic progress; and (1.2) a need to plan for their adolescent’s
future academic and post-secondary life. A total of 80% of the parent responders
indicated that they have a parent education need related to their typical adolescents’
academic progress, representing the most consistently reported need across all survey
topics. Of the parents not indicating need in the domain of academics, one participant
explicitly indicated that he did not have any concerns about his son’s academic progress,
writing “He has no problems” (Example Statement, Survey 17). The other three
participants who did not indicate that academic progress was an area of concern did not
indicate any response to this item.
Theme 1.1 and sub-themes. The clearly dominant broad theme, determined
through a thorough analysis of the quality and quantity of parent responses, was
identified as parental need (1.1): a need to learn about supporting their adolescent’s
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current academic progress. This broad thematic conceptualization was driven from
overlapping qualities of parent responses that were more discrete concepts identified in
the specific sub-themes (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Current Academic Progress Themes
The first sub-theme identified was a parent perception of need to develop more
effective communication between home and school (1.1a). Parents expressed the desire
that they would like to be informed in a timely manner at the onset of any adolescent
academic achievement difficulty. For example, parents wrote:
− “More communication with teachers, so soon as child shows some
problems (of any kind)” (Example Response, Survey 20).
− “How to have good communication with his teachers, to know how he is
doing” (Example Response, Survey 07).
Item 1:
Theme 1.1
Adolescent's
Current
Academic
Progress
(1.1a) Improve
communication
with school
(1.1b) Information about
interventions and methods
to improve achievement
(1.1c) Information
about how to
increase
adolescent's
motivation
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The second sub-theme was a repeating pattern of parent participants indicating an
interest in obtaining information about how to intervene and support their adolescent’s
academic improvement in their areas of academic weakness (1.1b). Several examples
included:
− “How to help in their academic progress” (Example Response, Survey 13).
− “How to interest my child in reading and how to help him solve math
problems” (Example Response, Survey 04).
− “Academic progress is very important for my son's future and I would like
to receive more information about programs that will help him succeed in
the classes where he is having trouble with” (Example Response, Survey
09).
The third sub-theme was conceptualized as parents indicating that they would like
to learn how to increase their adolescent’s motivation and how to encourage them to do
better (1.1c). For example, parents wrote:
− “How can I encourage them to do better?” (Example Response, Survey
16).
− “Iniciative [sic] of trying to solve or asking for help on his own” (Example
Response, Survey 10).
Theme 1.2 and sub-themes. As stated previously, the secondary broad theme that
emerged from parent responses on item 1, and driven from discrete sub-themes, was
conceptualized as: (1.2) a parental need to help their adolescent plan for their future
academic life and their post-secondary life after high school graduation (see Figure 2).
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Figure 2: Future Academic Planning Themes
Parent participants communicated that they wanted to learn information about the
specific requirements for high school graduation and about the high school coursework
required for entrance to college (1.2a and 1.2c). Parents wrote:
− “I would like to know what to expect in high School. What are classes
needed for them to go to college?” (Example Response, Survey 18)?
− “Preparing for college” (Example Response, Survey 15).
Another sub-theme that emerged from the analysis was a parental desire to learn
how to teach their adolescent how to prioritize aspects of their life in relation to
academics (1.2b). A parent that seeks to impart the skill of prioritization and reasoned
decision-making is likely to be concerned about the adolescent’s continuous academic
improvement. A parent wrote:
Item 1:
Theme 1.2
Planning for
adolescent's
future academic
and post-
secondary life
(1.2a) Information about
high school graduation
requirements
(1.2b) Information
about college entrance
requirements
(1.2c) Information about
how to help adolescent
prioritize
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− “How to help my child understand what is important and why” (Example
Response, Survey 19).
Demographic analysis of Item 1: Academic Progress. Transitioning to the next
layer of analysis, beyond the comprehensive data set themes and sub-themes, was an
examination of the relationship between ethnic and demographic variables and participant
responses. The item 1 themes and sub-themes were first sorted by key ethnic and
demographic variables, and salient differences in response patterns were identified. The
first demographic variable that was analyzed was parent gender and there were no
discernable differences between participant responses when examined from a participant
gender point of view.
The data from item 1 were subsequently sorted by parent ethnicity, family
income, and parental education and parent responses were compared to identify
differences in themes and sub-themes. Differences between response patterns by ethnic
group emerged when comparing the four participants of Black/African American descent
to other ethnicities. From a response analysis of the four participants of Black/African
American descent, two did not express any concerns about their adolescent’s progress,
and the other two were concerned with information about planning for their adolescent’s
future high school course work or planning for college. For example, one parent of
Black/African American ethnicity wrote that they have a need to help their adolescent in
“preparing for college” (Example Response, Survey 15), while another asked, “What are
classes needed to go to college” (Example Response, Survey 18)? The participant of
White/Caucasian ethnicity expressed a need consistent with the theme of supporting her
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adolescent’s current academic functioning. Her specific concern was a desire to improve
home-school communication to facilitate timely intervention with her adolescent’s
problems in school.
The 12 participants of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity generally expressed concerns
about how to help their adolescent with their immediate academic progress. Specifically,
they communicated a clear desire to increase the quality of home-school communication,
including the timeliness of information about their adolescent’s progress and a desire for
more responsiveness from teachers when parents initiate school contact. They also
indicated concerns about supporting motivational aspects of academic achievement, such
as helping their adolescent to learn self-advocacy skills and how to take initiative. For
example, one parent stated, ”Iniciative [sic] of trying to solve or asking for help on his
own” (Example Response, Survey 10).
When examining participant responses by family income, apparent differences
between groups emerged. Of the parents who responded to the family income item, the
most clearly differentiated response patterns emerged between very high family income
earners, those earning $100,000 or more, and the rest of the responders below this income
threshold. Of the three responders who indicated incomes of $100,000 or more, two
stated that they do not have any need to learn about how to support their adolescent’s
academic development from a parent education program, while the third responder
expressed an information need to know what to expect in high school and requirements to
go to college. When the other responders with incomes of $99,999 and below were
analyzed as a group, their parent needs were more variable with less thematic coherence
99
than with parents in the very high income group. For example, some parents were
concerned about home-school communication, while others indicated that they wanted
information about increasing adolescent’s motivation.
Survey Item 2: Risk Behaviors
The second written survey item cued parents with the stem, “Preventing or
dealing with behaviors that may cause them harm physically or emotionally?” This item
was designed to elicit parent perceptions of parent need in regards to the prevention or
minimization of risk-taking behaviors in children and adolescents. When reviewing the
written responses, 55% of the 20 responders indicated that they have a need in this
domain. In an analysis of those 11 affirmative responses, there was a singular broad
theme that emerged that threaded through multiple parent responses.
Theme 2.1 and sub-themes. The written survey item 2 broad theme was
conceptualized as: (2.1) a need to learn about how to help their adolescent integrate
healthy decision-making and self-evaluative behaviors. Healthy decision-making was
determined to be characterized as an adolescent objectively evaluating external
behavioral choices and following through with decisions that minimize personal risk.
Self-evaluative behaviors were conceptualized as a higher-order meta-cognitive process
where an adolescent would evaluate poor decisions, learn from them, and continually
evolve their emotional maturity and self-regulation. Parents generally communicated that
they had a desire to play a role in the healthy maturation of their adolescent and to
minimize their risk-taking behaviors (see Figure 3).
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Figure 3: Managing Risk Behavior Themes
Parents who expressed the need to help their adolescent learn healthy decision-
making and self-evaluative behaviors articulated several sub-themes. First, parents
expressed a need to learn about ways to help their adolescent make mature and healthy
decisions (2.1a). An example of a parent statement that supported the conceptualization
of this sub-theme included:
− “How can I get her to stay away from the wrong crowd” (Example Statement,
Survey 16).
− “Many times for a youth it is hard to prevent behaviors which cause physical
or emotional harm because they think everything is funny even if it causes
physical harm” (Example Statement, Survey 09).
Item 2:
Theme 2.1
Parent need for learning
how to help adolescent
integrate healthy
decision-making and
self-evaluative behaviors
(2.1a) Helping
adolescent to make
mature, healthy choices
(2.1b) Helping adolescent
to learn from poor
behavioral choices
(2.1c) Parent need for
understanding normal
and abnormal emotional
development and
recognizing early onset
of risky behaivors
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Another sub-theme that emerged from parent responses appeared to be a parental
need to learn about how to help their adolescent manage the outcomes of their poor
choices (2.1b). For example, parents wrote:
− “I get help psychologist & therapy for my child. But as a teenager, they feel to
make their decision. They'll learn from mistakes” (Example Statement, Survey
10).
− “Help him deal with behaviors” (Example Statement, Survey 13).
The final emergent sub-theme from the item 2 response analyses was
conceptualized as a parental need to understand normal and deviant adolescent emotional
development, and how to recognize the early onset of potentially risky behaviors (Sub-
theme 2.1c). Some examples included:
− “How to recognize symptoms at very early stages” (Example Statement,
Survey 20)
− “How to manage and understand his emotional changes and attitude”
(Example Statement, Survey 04).
Demographic analysis of Item 2: Risk Behaviors. After identifying the broad
theme and sub-themes from item 2, the second phase of analysis clustered responses by
differences in ethnic and demographic characteristics. One of the most strongly evident
demographic differences on question two emerged between a cluster of three parents who
self-reported that they were of Black/African American descent or bi-racial
Black/African American and Asian ethnic descent, when compared to the other ethnic
groups. Of the four responders who self-reported that they were of Black/African
102
American descent, none of them expressed a parental need related to question two, that of
learning about preventing or dealing with behaviors that may cause their adolescent
physical or emotional harm. One parent of Black/African ethnicity stated “I don’t worry
about this” (Example Statement, Survey 18), and another indicated “Not a problem”
(Example Statement, Survey 17). As mentioned previously, three of the four participants
who identified their ethnicity as Black/African American encompass the total
representation of the very high income group who self-reported that they have $100,000
or more in family income. In addition, these three highest income earners also represent
the total sample of the most educated parents, all with Master’s Degrees. These three
most educated and highest income earners (high SES) all indicated that they do not have
a need to learn about preventing or dealing with behaviors that may cause their child
physical or emotional harm, a clear difference from the rest of the sample group. There
were no other discernable patterns of responses on the themes or sub-themes when
clustered by differing demographic or cultural variables.
Survey Item 3: Social Interactions and Peer Relationships
The third item in the written survey cued parents with the stem, “Their social
interactions and peer-relationships.” This item was designed to elicit parents’ needs in the
area of helping their child or adolescent develop the skills for age-appropriate social
behaviors and how to develop quality peer relationships. The majority of parent
responders, a total of 60%, expressed a need or desire to learn about the content of
written survey item 3 in a parent education program. A single broad theme emerged from
an analysis of the question 3 responses.
103
Theme 3.1 and sub-themes. In response to item 3, parents expressed the broad
need theme (3.1) to learn how to teach their adolescent how to make high quality
relationship decisions and to maintain positive relationships with peers and family (see
Figure 4).
Figure 4: Peer and Social Relationship Themes
Parent participants shared the concern for helping their adolescent integrate
mature decision-making skills with respect to differentiating between individuals in the
pool of potential peers. Parents also expressed a need to help their adolescent with
making decisions about intimate relationships. Lastly, parents were interested in the
qualitative aspects of the reciprocal relationship between the adolescent and the parent.
There were three distinct and yet related sub-themes distilled from parent
responses to item 3 that supported the conceptualization of the overall broad theme. First,
Item 3:
Theme 3.1
Parent need to learn how
to teach adolescent how
to make high quality
relationship decisions
and to maintain positive
relationships with peers
and family
(3.1a) Learn to
evaluate friendship
quality and make
healthy peer choices
(3.1 c)Improving parent-
child relationship and
build adolescent's
capacity for empathy
(3.1b)Manage intimate
relationship choices
104
parents articulated a specific need to help their adolescent learn the cognitive skills
associated with evaluating friendship quality and making choices about the nature of peer
relationships (3.1a). For example, parents wrote:
− “How to teach her to make good choices in friends” (Example Statement,
Survey 18).
− “How you get a child who likes everyone and thinks everyone is good [to]
learn to distinguish real friends” (Example Statement, Survey 19).
− “Dealing with peer pressure” (Example Statement, Survey 06).
A second sub-theme, and close corollary to the parent need for helping their
adolescent make quality friendship choices, was a need for parents to help adolescents
make quality decisions about intimate relationships (3.1b). Some examples of parent
statements that supported this conceptualization included:
− “How can I tell her to stay away from boys” (Example Statement, Survey 16),
− “How to make them see that people who they have a friendship or a
boyfriend/girlfriend relationship [with] is not good” (Example Statement,
Survey 05).
A third sub-theme that emerged from parent responses to item 3 included a parent
need to help their adolescents to build a capacity for empathy and understanding in peer
and family relationships (3.1c). One parent expressed the concern that they wanted their
adolescent to understand that people are fundamentally different and that they do not
necessarily share the same ideas or interests.
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− “The majority of teenagers interact with people of their own age and they
understand each other. But I would like to learn how parents can speak with
their child and make them understand that parents are worried for their well-
being” (Example Statement, Survey 09).
Ultimately, these item 3 sub-theme concepts appeared important to parent
participants who wanted their adolescents to maturely evaluate the nature of peer
relationships, to develop and maintain high quality peer and family relationships.
Demographic analysis of Item 3: Social Interactions and Peer Relationships. An
analysis of the differences in theme and sub-theme across various ethnic and
demographic characteristics revealed one cluster of differences similar to the findings
from item 2. There were repeating patterns of parent responses found in a group of three
parents who self-reported that they are of Black/African American descent or bi-racial
Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino ethnic descent, are also high family income
earners of $70,000 or above, and have the most education, ranging from some college to
Master’s Degrees (mid to high-SES). These three participants indicated that they were
interested in learning about helping their adolescent to make high quality friend choices
and helping them to manage peer pressure. In comparison with the other nine responders
to question 3, this group of parents had a narrow and coherent response focus while the
other participants expressed more dispersed responses.
Survey Item 4: Parent-Child Communication
The fourth item in the written survey cued parents with the stem,
“Communicating with your child/adolescent”? This item was designed to extract any
106
parent perceptions of need in the area of parent-child communication. In the total sample
of parent responders, a strong majority of participants, 15 out of the 20 total (75%),
indicated that the question 4 topic was an area of need. This represented the second most
important topic among all the potential parent education topics. There was one clear
broad theme conceptualized from the parent responses to item 4 that includes three more
specific sub-themes.
Theme 4.1 and sub-themes. The broad item 4 theme was conceptualized as (4.1)
parents expressing a need to learn how to improve all aspects of establishing and
maintaining open communication with their adolescent. Multiple parents emphasized the
importance of quality parent-child communication during the adolescent years, even
when it was difficult and with increased relationship stressors. The broad theme was
derived from shared aspects of more discrete sub-themes (see Figure 5).
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Figure 5: Parent-Child Communication Themes
The first sub-theme identified from participant responses to item 4 was that
multiple parents expressed a parent education need to learn how to establish or initiate
regular communication with their adolescent (4.1a). Some examples of parent statements
that illustrate this sub-theme included:
− “As a man, how do I reach out to her” (Example Statement, Survey 16)?
− “How to establish an open communication about how school is going”
(Example Statement, Survey 07)?
The second sub-theme derived from item 4 responses was a parent need for
maintaining regular communication with their adolescent (4.1b). Several parent
responders indicated a need to learn how to maintain communication between the parent
and adolescent after regular communication had been established. Some parents
Item 4:
Theme 4.1
General need to
improve all aspects of
establishing and
maintaining open
communication
(4.1a) Establish
parent-adolescent
communication
(4.1b) Maintain parent-
adolescent
communication
(4.1c) Parent is available
to discuss any topic
openly and honestly
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expressed that they wanted to improve the quality of their parent-adolescent
communication, one parent stating that they would like to make interactions more fun,
while another indicated that maintaining communication was difficult when the child
behaved in a stubborn way. Some specific examples included:
− “Skills on how to talk with child. Talking with them, not at them”
(Example Statement, Survey 20).
− “How to keep lines of communication open” (Example Statement, Survey
18).
A third sub-theme was the concept of developing communication between the
parent and adolescent that is open and honest (4.1c). This sub-theme is characterized
more by the quality of the communication, as opposed the frequency and maintenance of
communication patterns. For example, parents wrote:
− “Ensuring that the child feels comfortable communicating” (Example
Statement, Survey 06).
− “To be more open and trustworthy to talk with them about any subject”
(Example Statement, Survey 04).
The sample statement below articulates one parent’s opinion that both frequency
and openness in parent-child communication is important:
− “I make sure to talk to my son everyday about everything and anything he
wants to discuss so that he has no problem talking to me about
ANYTHING” (Example Statement, Survey 19).
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Parents appeared to be aware that their adolescents face challenging life pressures
and choices as they mature. Further, some parents articulated that they would like to learn
how to communicate trust, openness, and availability to their adolescents. As evidenced
in the parent statements above, they discussed how daily communication between the
parent and adolescent is a critical component to developing openness in communication.
Demographic analysis of Item 4: Parent-Child Communication. In an analysis of
item 4 responses across the various participant ethnic and demographic characteristics, it
was evident that there were no meaningful alignments between the theme or sub-theme
concepts and the differences in parent characteristics. It is clearly apparent that the
majority of parents believe that they would like to learn about how to improve the
quality, frequency, and openness of their parent-adolescent communication from a parent
education program.
Survey Item 5: Feelings and Emotional Development
The fifth item in the written survey cued parents with the stem, “Their feelings
and emotional development?” The item 5 stem was designed to illicit parent perceptions
of needs related to understanding their adolescent’s feelings or emotional development.
Of the 20 total participants in the inclusive sample, 50% expressed an opinion that
learning about their adolescent’s feelings and emotional development was a needed topic
in a parent education programs. One dissenting male participant expressed his perception
of this topic as falling into the parenting domain of his wife when he stated, “I leave that
[i.e., feelings/emotional development] to her mother” (Example Statement, Survey 16).
110
Among the ten parent responders who indicated that this was an important area of need,
one broad theme emerged from two related sub-themes (see Figure 6).
Figure 6: Emotional Development Themes
Theme 5.1 and sub-themes. The broad theme (5.1) was conceptualized as a
parental need to learn how to promote and support healthy adolescent emotional
development. There were two emergent sub-themes that were extracted from parent
statements that supported the conceptualization of the broad theme. First, multiple
parents expressed a need in the area of learning how to help their adolescent regulate
their negative emotions (5.1a). Parents expressed that their adolescent’s mood changes
and intensity of negative emotions were a factor in family conflict. For example, parents
stated:
− “How to teacher her to control her emotions” (Example Statement, Survey
18).
Item 5:
Theme 5.1
Parents promote
and support
healthy emotional
development
(5.1a) Learn to help
adolescent develop
emotional regulation skills
(5.1b) Learn how to instill
and enhance confidence
and positive behaviors
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− “How to give her the best advice about making decisions academically
and how to help her if she has low self-esteem or if she has no control over
her anger” (Example Statement, Survey 05).
A second sub-theme that was a repeating pattern in parent responses was a need to
learn how to improve their adolescent’s confidence and positive behaviors (5.1b). Several
parents appeared to share the opinion that learning how to support their adolescent’s
development of self-confidence was an important aspect of parenting and with promoting
healthy development. One parent indicated that a high level of confidence is important in
the development of communication skills. Another parent made a connection between
supporting their adolescent’s healthy emotional development and the potential for
positively impacting the adolescent’s social behaviors. Specific parent statements
included:
− “Their feelings and emotional development are an important part of being
a teenager because a teen with good feelings is a good citizen” (Example
Statement, Survey 09).
− “How to influence him to become more affectionate with his dad”
(Example Statement, Survey 04).
− “How I can be a better listener. Understanding what they are going
through” (Example Statement, Survey 20).
Demographic analysis of Item 5: Feelings and Emotional Development. The
secondary analysis of responses to item 5 across the various ethnic and demographic
variables did not yield any findings that were consistent for any one variable. Item 5
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yielded 10 parent responses, which suggested that this topic was an area of need for half
of the total parent participant sample. Of these ten parents who indicated that this item
was a topic of interest, the responses did not significantly overlap in alignment with
different aspects of parent age, parent sex, parent ethnicity, family income, parent
education, and number of children in the household.
Survey Item 6: Family Conflict
The sixth item in the written survey cued parents with the stem, “Their response
to difficult or challenging family interactions between people in your family?” Item 6
was designed to determine the extent to which parents perceive that they need to learn
about how within family conflict affects their child or adolescent’s development, and
potentially how to manage family conflict and resulting effects. Of the 20 total parent
participants, 45% of the total 20 participants responded affirmatively that this was a topic
of need. Of those nine responders, one broad theme emerged, driven by overlapping
similarities in three aligned sub-themes (see Figure 7).
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Figure 7: Family Conflict Themes
Theme 6.1 and sub-themes. The broad theme (6.1) was a need to transform family
conflict into a process or opportunity for learning and positive development. Parents
generally expressed an opinion that family conflict was a natural aspect of any family
environment, but internal conflicts needed to be addressed and worked through to
promote long-term family cohesiveness.
There were three sub-themes that supported the main broad theme. First, multiple
parents expressed that they have a need to learn how to teach their adolescent how to
manage their negative emotions (6.1a). This sub-theme overlaps with the previous item
sub-theme (5.1a) in that parents reiterated their interest in helping their adolescents to
learn the skill of emotional management. On the item 6 responses, parents indicated that
the intensity of negative emotions can hinder the resolution of family conflict. Some
examples that illustrated this sub-theme included the parent statements:
− “How to handle anger” (Example Statement, Survey 04).
Item 6:
Theme 6.1
Transform family
conflict into a
process for
learning and
development
(6.1a) Learn how to
teach adolescent to
manage negative
emotions
(6.1c) Use open
family
communication
(6.1b) Focus on positive
family interactionsand
build consensus
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− “Talk to them and not follow the same rules that are bad influences for them;
always take the good in them” (Example Statement, Survey 14).
A second sub-theme from responses to item 6 was the need for focusing on
positive family interactions to build consensus among family members (6.1b). Parents
indicated that there was a need to learn the skill of focusing on the positive family
interactions as opposed to dwelling on internal family problems. For example, parent
comments included:
− “Be positive and speak [about it]” (Example Statement, Survey 02).
− “Many times teenagers have a very different point of view and during family
interaction they do not agree. It would be a good idea for me to learn how to
teach teenagers to come to an agreement” (Example Statement, Survey 09).
The third sub-theme from item 6 was that parents expressed a need for learning to
develop and facilitate open communication between the adolescent and other family
members (6.1c). Developing open communication skills, similar to the responses on item
4: parent-child communication, were indicated as a crucial aspect of managing internal
family conflict. Sample parent responses included:
− “That issues happen in all families, it’s never the child’s fault, I want to hear
whatever they have to say” (Example Statement, Survey 20).
− “Have more communication with all members of family. RESPECT
ELDERS” (Example Statement, Survey 10).
Demographic analysis of Item 6: Family Conflict. When examining item 6
responses across ethnic and demographic variables, the participants’ responses appeared
115
to vary meaningfully in alignment with parent education and family income (SES), and
ethnicity. The three participants who self reported having Master’s Degrees, family
income over $100,000 (high SES), and who were of Black/African American ethnic
descent, indicated that they do not have any needs in the areas of family conflict and
related impact on their adolescent’s affective development. When examining all the
parents who responded that they have a need in this area, their family incomes were
below the $100,000 threshold (mid to low SES). Further, the most elaborate responses
were from parents who had income levels below $100,000, and all self-reported a high
school diploma/GED or some college as their highest level of parent education. There
were no other patterns of participant responses aligned with various participant
characteristics from responses to item 6.
Survey Item 7: Teaching Parent’s Values
The seventh item in the written survey cued parents with the stem, “Helping you
effectively teach your child/adolescent about your value system (e.g., moral code, right
and wrong, etc.)?” Item 7 was designed to elicit parental perceptions of needs in the area
of teaching their personal value system to their child or adolescent. This item cued
parents to think of their personal values as defined as their views of right and wrong and
their own personal moral code. Item 7 yielded the lowest response rate out of all the
written response items with 35% of the 20 participants affirming this topic as a parent
education need. An example statement from a parent participant who indicated that this
was not an area of need wrote that his adolescent “knows right from wrong” (Example
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Statement, Survey 16) thus negating the necessity of this topic. Ultimately, there was one
theme generated from the parent responses and no sub-themes identified (see Figure 8).
Figure 8: Parent’s Values Theme
Theme 7.1. In an examination of the affirmative parent responses to question 7,
the broad theme (7.1) was a need to help teach adolescents to accept their current
circumstances, stay grounded, and have respect for others. Parents expressed that when
their adolescents integrate a value system, they will be more resilient in the face of
challenging situations and temptations in their lives. Another parent indicated that a well-
developed moral system will help the adolescent to make appropriate decisions in life.
Further, the adolescent will have an increased capacity for reflecting on desires or
impulses in relation to parent and societal expectations. Lastly, parent comments on item
7 indicated that teaching values to their adolescents was important to help the adolescent
to learn that showing respect for family and others is an important part of being a member
of a community. Sample parent responses to item 7 included:
Item 7:
Theme 7.1
Parents have a need to
help their adolescent
to accept their current
circumstances, stay
grounded, and have
respect for others
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− “How to keep her grounded in what she already knows” (Example Statement,
Survey 18).
− “For me it is very important to teach a child moral values, good and bad
because there are many challenges and temptations. Sometimes it can be
friends or even their own selves who are not in agreement with parents or the
society” (Example Statement, Survey 09).
− “Family comes first, that you don't have to like or agree but you must respect”
(Example Statement, Survey 20).
Demographic analysis of Item 7: Teaching Parent’s Values. In an examination of
item 7 responses across the ethnic and demographic variables, there were no discernable
patterns in parent responses in relation to the broad theme. This may be attributed to the
low response rate from participants on question 7, or with the possibility that parents
were not comfortable seeking external supports with teaching their own personal values.
Survey Item 8: Discipline
The eighth item in the written survey cued parents with the stem, “Discipline:
increasing your child/adolescent’s positive behavior and decreasing negative behaviors?”
The rationale for item 8 was to design a question that may yield parent perceptions of
need in the area of managing the adolescent’s problem behaviors effectively. A slight
majority, a total of 55% of the parent participants out of the 20 total, responded
affirmatively to item 8 as an area of parent education need. There was one primary theme
that emerged from three sub-themes (see Figure 9).
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Figure 9: Discipline Themes
Theme 8.1 and sub-themes. The item 8 theme was conceptualized as a need to
learn how to more effectively reduce the occurrence of negative adolescent behaviors
(8.1). As a group, the parent responders to item 8 expressed a definitive need and desire
to learn reductive strategies to decrease negative or problematic adolescent behaviors,
while none of the parent responders indicated a need to learn strategies to increase
positive or pro-social adolescent behaviors. The broad theme from item 8 responses was
derived from shared aspects of the more discrete sub-themes.
The first of three sub-themes that emerged from parent written responses to item 8
was conceptualized as (8.1a) the need to learn how to reduce negative family interactions.
Some specific examples of parent statements that illustrated this sub-theme included:
− “Reduce negative behaviors towards his siblings” (Example Statement,
Survey 04).
Item 8:
Theme 8.1
Learn more effective
ways to reduce the
occurrence of
negative adolescent
behaviors
(8.1a)Reduce
negative family
interactions
(8.1c) Teach
emotional self-
regulation skills
(8.1b) Reduce
school
misbehavior
119
− “How to take all negative situations and make it positive” (Example
Statement, Survey 20).
The second sub-theme that is closely related to the first, but reflects concerns
about behavior in a different context is (8.1b), the need to reduce misbehavior in school.
One parent wrote:
− “I would like discipline to be stricter in the school because many times
students demonstrate rebellion against teachers and other [people]”
(Example Statement, Survey 09).
The third sub-theme (8.1c) was a parent need to teach their adolescent effective
emotional regulation skills. Specific parent responses that illustrated this sub-theme
included:
− “She’s a wild girl. How can I get her to calm down” (Example Statement
Survey 16)?
− “This one is important to me, for me it ties with values, due to lack of
male figure, a son that is stubborn and thinks he knows it all. I decided to
put him in boot camp; hopefully the outcome will be positive” (Example
Statement, Survey 10).
The third sub-theme defined as teaching the adolescent self-regulation skills is a
repeated parent sentiment from the previous sub-theme responses (5.1a) and (6.1a).
Ultimately, the repeated emergence of a parental need across multiple items elevates the
importance of that need relative to the other potential parenting topics.
120
Demographic analysis of Item 8: Discipline. In an examination of parent
responses to item 8 across ethnic and demographic variables, there was a clear alignment
in the self-reported needs regarding parent discipline and the group of three individuals
who self-reported being of Black/African American ethnic descent, with Master’s
Degrees, and who have a family income in the very high range above $100,000. These
individuals all indicated that parent education needs in the area of learning more about
discipline were not important from their perspectives. The affirmative parent responses to
question 8 were derived from parents with incomes below $100,000, and with highest
education below Master’s Degree level. There did not appear to be other patterns of
alignment between parent characteristics and the various sub-themes.
Survey Item 9: Ethnic and Demographic Impact on Parenting
Item 9 in the written survey cued parents with the question stem, “As a parent,
what are your concerns or worries about your culture in relation to raising your oldest
child (e.g., ethnicity, age, financial status, family status-e.g., single, married, legally
committed, divorced, adopted, non-traditional)?” This item was designed to generate
parent introspection and responses that may arise from fixed and situational ethnic and
demographic qualities in the context of the family and society. For example, the fixed
impact of a parent’s ethnic origin in the context of raising the adolescent in a diverse
school district, or the situational factors associated with family income that may be
variable over time, but will have direct and immediate results on the parenting
environment. There were 50% of the 20 total parent participants who indicated an
affirmative response to this item as an area of need. In an examination of the affirmative
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parent responses for repeating patterns to identify a broad theme, parent responses to item
9 varied significantly. Ultimately, there was one broad theme distilled from three sub-
themes based on specific parent responses (see Figure 10).
Figure 10: Ethnic and Demographic Themes
Theme 9.1 and sub-themes. There was an overall pattern in the affirmative
responses that suggested that parents value their personal or family ethnic and
demographic family factors. The broad parent need (9.1) was conceptualized as parents
wanting to learn about managing family identity and aspects of financial circumstances
within the context of societal expectations. Parent responses were primarily focused on
themes of family financial circumstances and adolescents integrating a mature
understanding of the value of material things. There was a separate thread of participant
Item 9:
Theme 9.1
Parents have a need to
learn about managing
family identity and
aspects of financial
circumstances within the
context of societal
expectations
(9.1a) Parents have
needs in relation to
family finances
(9.1c) Impart the virtues of
family traditions, personal
identity, and the richness of
living in a multi-cultural
society
(9.1b) Parents have needs
in teaching adolescent
value of money and
material things
122
discussion that touched on themes of ethnic differences, racism, and family culture and
traditions.
Parent responses to item 9 revealed multiple sub-themes that are supportive of the
broad theme. Multiple parents’ responses overlapped to indicate that there was a concern
in relation to their personal financial status and supporting their family (9.1a). Several
example statements included:
− “My worry is not being prepared to support him” (Example Statement,
Survey 02).
− “Financial position [and] family role” (Example Statement, Survey 05).
A closely related second sub-theme was a need to teach their adolescent the value
of money and material things (9.1b). Several parents expressed personal concerns about
how their adolescent will develop an understanding of the monetary value of objects and
in relation to the transaction of objects. Specific examples included:
− “How to keep from giving her too much” (Example Response, Survey 18).
− “I want to make sure he has a balanced view of material things. Make sure
he realizes that his race does affect many things in his life” (Example
Response, Survey 19).
A third sub-theme was conceptualized as a need in the area of imparting the
virtues of family traditions, personal identity, and the richness of living in a multi-cultural
society (9.1c). This sub-theme was conceptualized from parent comments that expressed
concerns or needs about imparting a sense of virtue that comes from living in a
harmonious multi-cultural society.
123
− “Coming from a mixed marriage, and being raised totally different is hard.
Very strong believers of staying in the marriage and keeping family
traditions” (Example Response, Survey 20).
− “Ethnicity zero tolerance for racism” (Example Response, Survey 10).
− “I agree that we are in a country that shares different cultures and that it is
a value for all its citizens” (Example Response, Survey 09).
− “Well, she has 3 different cultures. I don’t want her to have to choose”
(Example Response, Survey 16).
Demographic analysis of Item 9: Ethnic and Demographic Impact on Parenting.
The item 9 responses were analyzed by participant ethnic and demographic variables to
identify any salient alignments in response pattern content. From these cross-sectional
item analyses, the only apparent pattern to emerge was in the sub-theme where parents
expressed concern over teaching their adolescent the value of money and material things.
Parents who expressed a need in this sub-theme were responders among the mid to upper
family income range, having income greater than $70,000 and who also self-reported
their ethnicities as either Black/African American or Black/African American and
Hispanic/Latino. There were no other discernable patterns of responses among the
various ethnic or demographic variables on item 9.
Survey Item 10: Open Response
The tenth item in the written survey allowed parent responders the opportunity for
a true open-response in relation to their perspectives of needs as a parent of a typical 14
to 17-year-old. Survey item 10 asked participants, “Other than what you have already
124
discussed, what else do you think would be important for you to learn during a parenting
class?” This item was designed to allow parents to generate their own ideas about any
topic that they may want or need in a parent education program. Of the inclusive total
sample of 20 participants, 45% indicated an affirmative response to this item. Although
this was an open-ended item, 10% of the total responders marked their responses as “yes”
(Example Response, Surveys 01 and 03). These two responses were included for their
affirmative position, but they may be more of an indicator of methodological weaknesses
rather than useful for item analysis, discussed further in the following chapter. Responses
from item 10 yielded one broad theme, and three sub-themes (see Figure 11).
Figure 11: Open Response Themes
Theme 10.1 and sub-themes. In a detailed analysis of the item 10 written
responses as a group, parent responders appeared to generally reiterate and elaborate on a
particular cued topic response from previous items in the survey. The item 10 responses
Item 10:
Theme 10.1
Parents have
parenting needs
and want solutions
from parent
education
programs.
(10.1a) Learn to
network with other
parents
(10.1b) Improving
communication
skills
(10.1c) Learn about
adolescent development
and managing
personal, family, and
cultural identity
125
yielded a single broad theme (10.1) that parents share self-perceptions of parent
education needs and they are interested in finding solutions to those needs from parent
education programs.
There were several sub-themes generated from parent responses to item 10. One of
the affirmative responses to item 10 indicated a unique topic that was not included in the
previously cued survey items, a need or interest in developing collaborative relationships
with other parents (10.1a). This parent communicated an important aspect of the
parenting experience, developing parent support networks to normalize the parenting
experience, and to provide additional peer supports. This parent stated:
− “How to effectively network with other parents” (Example Response, Survey 18).
Other sub-themes were reiterated and elaborated responses from previous survey
questions. The second sub-theme on item 10 was a need to improve communication in
general (10.1b), and in particular between parent and child and parent to teachers.
Specific parent comments that support this conceptualization included:
− “I would like to learn how to speak with my child more openly and to be better
understood and to show him the reality of life” (Example Response, Survey 09).
− “Talk about sex, drugs, [and] abuse,” (Example Response, Survey 04),
− “How to get teachers active in communicating how he is doing before he begins
to do badly in school” (Example Response, Survey 07).
The third sub-theme was a need in the area of learning about adolescent
development, and a need in helping manage personal, family, and cultural identity
(10.1c). Participant examples included:
126
− “Learn more about emotions and sexuality” (Example Response, Survey 02).
− “Dealing with 3 cultures and helping her stay focused” (Example Response,
Survey 16).
− “How not to be pulled away from your traditions ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’ To
always have a positive attitude” (Example Response, Survey 20).
Demographic analysis of Item 10: Open Response. In an analysis of the item 10
responses for alignment across the various participants’ ethnic and demographic
characteristics, the parent responses were sorted by each independent variable and
analyzed for repeating patterns. Among the affirmative responses to item 10, there were
no findings of repeating patterns in responses that were clearly aligned with various
characteristics.
Survey Item 11: Topic Ranking
The final survey item asked participants to rank the most important topics to be
included in a parent education program. The item states, “Of all the issues discussed,
please rank the three most important topics that should be in a parenting class, in your
opinion (1 - most important, 2 - second most important, 3 - third most important).”
Parents were then given a topic listing with a space in front of the topic to place a
numeric rank from 1 to 3 in front of the topic that they perceived as most important in a
parent education program.
Out of the full participant sample, 95% of the total 20 participants generated a
response to item 11. Of these 19 total responders, 6 participants marked multiple topics
with a check, rather than the required numeric ranking. These responses were not
127
included in the response analysis as they were not able to be used to extract comparative
topic ranking data. The final usable sample on the ranking item was decreased by two
more participants who incorrectly indicated responses on all available topics. Ultimately,
the final analysis of item 11 topic rankings consisted of 11 participants (55% of the total
sample) who used the numeric rankings to indicate their top three topics of interest.
Item 11 results. Table 3 provides a summary of the most important parent needs
broken into the topic area, theme, and sub-themes. The topic that was clearly ranked the
most important to the parent participants, with 81% of the 11 participants indicating that
this was a top three topic of interest, was in the area of academic progress. There were a
total of 54% of the total 11 responders who indicated that the topic of academic progress
was their first topic choice in a parent education program. There was one parent (9% of
the 11 responders) who indicated that this topic was the second most important topic,
while two parents (18% of the 11 responders) who indicated that this topic was their third
most important topic.
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Table 3: Most Significant Findings of Parent Needs
Topic & Broad Theme Sub-Themes
Academic Progress :
(a) Adolescent’s current
academic progress
1) Improve communication with
school
2) Information about interventions and methods to
improve achievement
3) Information about how to increase adolescent’s
motivation
Academic Progress:
(b) Planning for adolescent’s
future academic and
career success
1) Information about high school graduation
requirements
2) Information about how to help adolescent
prioritize
3) Information about college entrance
requirements
Parent-Child Communication:
(a) Improve all aspects of
establishing and
maintaining open
communication
1) Establish parent-adolescent communication
2) Maintain parent-adolescent communication
3) Parent is available to discuss any topic openly
Other: Themes 5, 6, & 8 Teaching adolescent emotional regulation skills
The second most important topic with 72% of the 11 participants indicating that
this was a top three topic of interest was parent need of improving parent-child
communication. One parent (9% of the 11 responders) indicated that this topic was the
most important topic, with six parents (54% of the 11 responders) indicting that this was
their second most important topic. There was one parent (9%) who indicated that this
topic was their 3
rd
choice. Overall, the two topics of academic progress and parent-child
communication were clearly the most important topics for parents relative to the other
ranked items from item 11. When examining the topic rankings of academic progress and
parent-child communication for alignments with parent ethnic and demographic
differences, there did not appear to be any notable differences.
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Differences were noted in third-tier topic choices in apparent alignment with
differences in parents’ ethnic and demographic characteristics, as shown in Table 4. For
example, all of the highest income participants with incomes above $70,000, and of
Black/African American ethnic descent or bi-racial Black/African American and
Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, rated the topic of peer and social relationships as a top three
topic of interest. None of the other participants indicated that peer and social relationships
were in the top three topic rank. Similarly, there were two participants with the highest
incomes above $100,000, both with Master’s Degrees, and of Black/African American
ethnic descent who indicated that the need to learn about adolescent emotional
development was a topic of primary interest (see Table 4). These participants both ranked
the topic of learning about adolescent development as their third most important topic.
There were no other participants who indicated the topic of emotional development as a
primary topic of interest.
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Table 4: Complete Topic Rankings Sorted by Income and Education
Socio-Economic Status
Item 11 Rankings
Income Parent Ed. Ethnicity Survey # 1 2 3
$100,000 MD B 06 Social Acad. Emot.
$100,000 MD B 17 Acad. Comm. Social
$100,000 MD B 18 Acad. Social Emot.
$70,000 SC B & H 19 Social Comm. Acad.
$60,000 BD W & A 16 Acad. Comm. Values
$60,000 HSD W 20 Comm. Risk Acad.
$60,000 SC W & AI 07 Acad. Comm. Discipline
$20,000 HSD H 04 Discipline Family Int. Comm.
$0 SC H 10 Acad. Comm. Values
- HSD H 11 Risk Comm. Values
- SHS H 02 Acad. Risk Values
Note. Dashes indicate that participants did not indicate a response. Household Income Ranges are defined
as: $100,000 = $100,000 or greater; $70,000 = $70,000-$79,999; $60,000 = $60,000-$69,999; $20,000 =
$20,000-$29,999; and $0 = $0-$19,999. Parent Education codes: MD = Master’s Degree; BD =
Bachelor’s Degree; SC = Some College; HSD = High School Diploma/GED; SHS = Some High School.
Parent Ethnicity codes: B = Black/African American; H = Hispanic/Latino; A=Asian, W =
White/Caucasian, and, AI = American Indian/Alaskan Native. Topic abbreviations are: Acad. = Academic
Progress; Risk = Risk Behaviors; Social = Peer and Social Interactions; Comm. = Parent-Child
Communication; Emot. = Emotional Development; Family Int. = Family Interactions; and, Values
=Teaching Parent’s Values.
There were three other topics that were ranked as top three topics of interest.
There were 3 of the 11 participants who indicated that the topic related to managing child
or adolescent risk-taking behaviors as a primary topic of importance. One participant
indicated this topic as their number one choice, while the other two participants indicated
that this topic was their second most important topic (see Table 4). When examining
these participants for ethnic and demographic alignment, it was evident that they similar
education levels, with some high school or high school diploma as the maximum level of
parent education. Two of these participants did not report income levels, so it was
impossible to attribute any alignment in this ranking with family income differences.
131
Four parents ranked the topic related to teaching the parent’s values to the child or
adolescent as a primary topic of parent education need. All of these parents indicated the
values topic as their third most important parent education topic. These responders were
of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity and White/Caucasian ethnicity and represented various
levels of parent education and family income. Lastly, 2 out of the 11 responders indicated
that the parent education need of learning effective discipline was a primary topic of
interest with one parent indicating that it was their most important topic, and the other
indicating that it was the third most important topic.
The item 11 analysis yielded important additional information to differentiate
parent interests on various potential parent education topics. The majority of parent
responders were interested in topics related to adolescent academic achievement and
improving parent-adolescent communication. There were also emergent alignment
findings between parent interests and parent characteristics in relation to family income,
parent education, and lastly ethnicity. Table 5 shows the parents who did not respond or
incorrectly responded to the topic ranking item. It is apparent that the participants who
were not included in the ranking analysis, due to incorrectly completing the survey
document, had generally lower family incomes and lower parent education levels.
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Table 5: Incomplete Topic Rankings Sorted by Income and Education
Socio-Economic Status
Item 11 Rankings
Income Parent Ed. Ethnicity Survey # 1 2 3
$20,000 SC H 09 - - -
$20,000 SHS H 13 - - -
$20,000 NHS H 08 - - -
$20,000 NHS H 14 - - -
$0 SC B 15 - - -
$0 NHS H 01 - - -
$0 NHS H 05 - - -
- NHS H 12 - - -
- X H 03 - - -
Note. Dashes indicate that participants did not indicate a response. Household income ranges are defined
as: $20,000 = $20,000-$29,999; and $0 = $0-$19,999. Parent Education codes: SC = Some College;
SHS = Some High School, and NHS = No High School. Parent Ethnicity codes: B = Black/African
American; and H = Hispanic/Latino.
Summary
The results from the parent education needs assessment of parents of typical 14 to
17-year-olds yielded important conceptualizations about parent education needs. These
findings represent conceptualizations of parent education need derived from a
comprehensive written survey representing a diverse, urban sample of parents within the
LAUSD. The themes and sub-themes of need were derived from the most relevant source
material available, the words and self-perceptions of the parents themselves. The parent
responses were analyzed from multiple perspectives from the micro to macro levels, and
across ethnic and demographic characteristics of participants. Participant parents as a
group expressed multiple parent education needs in relation to raising their adolescent.
These data are vitally important to discuss the research questions, define parent needs,
evaluate the alignment with existing parent programs, and in the development of new
parent education programs.
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Chapter IV
Discussion
The discussion section details the researcher’s analyses and interpretations of the
significant parent education needs assessment findings to answer the research questions
in the context of theory, application, strengths, limitations, and future implications. The
research design was a parent education needs assessment analyzed using the methods of
grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The qualitative method traditionally
emphasizes forming a deep and rich understanding of a human phenomenon (Morrow,
2007). This research aimed to identify and coherently articulate the needs of parents of
typical 14 to 17-year-olds in an urban context. The parents’ written words were the
source material to generate conceptualizations of themes and sub-themes that represented
an integration of repeating patterns of parents’ self-perceptions, opinions about parenting,
and family experiences.
The present research expanded beyond traditional boundaries of qualitative
research with a purpose of generalizing meaningful findings for a variety of applied uses
(Morrow, 2007; Silverstein, Auerbach, & Levant, 2006). The parent need concepts are
believed to hold vast utility value for evaluating the extent to which existing parent
education programs align with parent needs, and will inform the development of new
parent education programs, as initially proposed in Clark et al. (2007).
The purposeful sample and qualitative survey methods of the current research
were selected because it was determined that a coherent and comprehensive
understanding of the phenomenon of parent needs in the context of raising a typical
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adolescent in an urban area did not exist prior to the current study. The majority of
existing peer-reviewed parent education program research failed to report on any
information related to parenting needs. As discussed in the review of literature, existing
parent education programs were categorized from one of three perspectives: (a)
theoretical foundation, (b) problem-centered with a focus on addressing children with
behavior disorders, or (c) problem-centered with a focus on parents who abuse or are at-
risk of abuse. Almost all of the existing popular parent education programs appear to
target parents of exceptional children, those at the extremes of the distribution in
cognitive, emotional, or behavioral development, as opposed to more universal
applications for parents of children who are considered typical.
It was inevitably concluded after reviewing existing research in the body of parent
education research that researchers either: (a) assumed parents’ needs based on the
program developers’ subjective perceptions, (b) ignored parents’ needs as they were
viewed as irrelevant to the program theory and model, or (c) assessed parent needs but
did not report the findings. The glaring omission of the vast majority of peer-reviewed
parent education programs not reporting parent needs provided the rationale for the
current study.
Overall, it was clearly evident from the findings of the current needs assessment
that parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds in an urban context have self-perceptions of
parent education needs. Further, these findings revealed a parent education intervention
services gap between parent education programs that emphasize interventions for
exceptional populations, as opposed to more universal populations. Parents of typical
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adolescents clearly experience similar self-perceptions of parenting needs that are
commonly unaddressed in existing parent education programs. Although, as Carter
(1996) indicated, it is a normal aspect of parenting to have various types of information
and skill development needs. This is especially true as children continually mature
through the ceiling of parenting competency. Parent education programs will likely better
serve a wider-range of parents to promote the development of quality parenting
environments when the program content is aligned with parents’ self-perceptions of
needs.
A logical approach to orient the discussion of the significant research findings is
to first review the research questions that inspired this study. The research questions were
the following:
1. What are the needs of parents of typical adolescents of 14 to 17-year-old?
2. How do parent participants’ needs differ in relation to parent gender, age, marital
status, ethnicity, parent income, parent education, and number of children in
household?
3. To what extent do existing parent education programs’ theoretical foundation and
outcome goals align with the identified needs of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-
olds?
The discussion that follows is organized around the research questions, focusing
on the most significant findings based on the written parent responses and topic ranking
items. Imbedded in the analysis of each significant finding is a discussion modeled on
Cone and Foster’s (2006) approach where significant findings were discussed in relation
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to the convergence or divergence with existing literature, explanations of convergence or
divergence from the literature, limitations to the specific findings, and the need for future
research to clarify or extend the specific findings. The discussion section concludes with
a more global discussion of the research study as a whole, including broad research
strengths and limitations, a proposal for a new model of parent education program, and
recommended directions for future research.
Research Question 1: Insights Related to the Needs of Parents of Typical
Adolescents
The findings of the current research were conceptualized and articulated in the
form of parent education need themes and sub-themes and were identified from repeating
patterns in parent responses using the methods of grounded theory (Morrow, 2007;
Strauss & Corbin, 1998). There were two findings that were determined to be
significantly more important topics to the participants relative to the other potential
parent education topics, needs in academic progress supports and parent-child
communication. Specifically, these parent needs were selected because a majority of the
total participant population of parent responders indicated that these topics were
important based on the quality and quantity of written responses and the high rankings
on the topic ranking item (see Table 3). There was an additional sub-theme topic that was
included in Table 3 that was found to be a consistently repeated sub-theme topic of
importance in multiple items, the need to help teach self-regulation skills. This sub-theme
is discussed briefly after the most important findings.
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Significant Findings
The first and most significant finding of parent education need was in the area of
supporting the adolescent’s academic progress. As discussed previously, parent responses
to item 1 yielded two broad themes of need: (a) the need for supporting the adolescent’s
current academic progress, and (b) supporting the adolescent’s future academic and post-
secondary life. Of the 11 parents responding to the ranking item, 82% indicated that the
parent education topic of supporting their typical adolescent’s academic progress was one
of the most important parent education topics of need (see Table 4). When examining the
parent responses, it was concluded that there was an almost universal self-perception that
parents of typical adolescents have gaps in their informational knowledge and parenting
skills in relation to supporting their adolescent’s academic progress.
As a group, the parent participants expressed concerns about wanting information,
supports, and skill training to help them to maximize their adolescent’s current and future
academic success. Parents who indicated current academic progress needs expressed
concerns about aspects of accessing direct academic supports for their adolescent,
learning to provide academic supports themselves, and ways to improve the timeliness,
quantity, and quality of home and school communication. It was inferred from these
responses that parents of typical adolescents experienced a variety of thoughts and
feelings when engaging the third-party educational institution. Several parents appeared
to be frustrated with their experiences in attempting to establish or maintain home-school
communication. One parent stated that they wanted timely notifications from school
personnel when their adolescent was showing signs of academic difficulty and another
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parent expressed frustration at the experience of attempting school contact and not getting
return responses from school personnel.
Another aspect of supporting their adolescent’s academic progress, providing
actual academic skill supports or helping to access academic skill supports, revealed
another layer of parent needs including perceptions of self-doubt and themes of
helplessness. Multiple parents expressed that they had needs to develop their own
academic skills and capacity for helping their adolescent to work through academic
problems. Additionally, parents indicated that they wanted help with accessing targeted
academic support services, such as tutoring or teacher help. In general, it was found that
parents who indicated that they had needs in the area of helping their adolescent’s current
academic progress maintained dominant negative self-perceptions that reflected their
insecurity over informational and academic skill deficits. Further, they not only held
negative self-perceptions, but also negative external perceptions toward the school
specifically related the quality and timeliness of home-school communication.
Parents who expressed needs for supporting their adolescent’s future academic
success and post-secondary life expressed that they wanted to learn how to help their
adolescent learn prioritization strategies, and informational supports related to the
requirements for high school graduation and college entrance. An interesting difference
between the group of parents who oriented their needs toward current academic supports
and future academic supports emerged. Parents who emphasized a need for supporting
their adolescent’s future academic or post-secondary progress appeared to maintain
positive self-perceptions of confidence in relation to their adolescent’s current school
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progress. When discussing the future, however, the parent responses suggested emergent
insecurity or self-doubt with their informational knowledge related to matriculation
requirements, and post-secondary options.
The second most important finding that was clearly more important than the other
potential parent education topics was the parent need to improve all aspects of
establishing and maintaining open communication with their adolescent (see Table 3).
Parents expressed concerns about being accessible to their adolescent, a logical and
important first step to improving parent-child communication. They also indicated that
they had needs to learn how to open or establish communication with their adolescent and
how to maintain open communication over time. It was inferred from patterns of parent
responses that parents valued open communication with their adolescent as an important
aspect of family functioning. Further, it appeared that parents perceived the parent-child
communication dynamic as a fragile transaction pattern that was easily susceptible to
break-down under conditions of family stress or conflict.
The two primary parent education needs, academic progress and parent-child
communication, were found to be significantly more important than other topics based on
the topic rating item and the quality of the question responses in the survey. There was
one additional finding included in Table 3 as an important finding; however, it was not
believed to be as important of a need as the primary needs. Parent responses on multiple
items indicated the need to help the adolescent learn emotional regulation skills. This
need is considered a topic that is uniquely important to parents of adolescents and an
important aspect of supporting emotional development.
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The remaining tertiary parent education needs topics were found to be potentially
important topics to individuals or small groups of parents, but were not identified as
universal parent needs for most or all parents of typical adolescents. Individual or small
groups of parents expressed additional needs in the areas of helping the adolescent reduce
risk-taking behaviors, improve social interactions, teaching the parent’s values,
discipline, and emotional development.
Parents were universally in agreement that they did not have strong concerns
relating to family interactions and the parent’s culture. Family interactions were
conceptualized as internal family conflict that may have an unwanted emotional impact
on the adolescent’s development. It is believed that these concerns would have emerged
in the parent-child communication item as the primary indicator of internal family
conflict. The parent culture need was intended to define many aspects of the ethnic and
demographic characteristics of the parent and the resulting impact on the adolescent’s
development. During the research analysis, it was concluded that the term “culture” may
have been too broad of a term that was not defined clearly and potentially impacted
participant responses.
Limitations related to significant findings. There are several important limitations
to consider in relation to the significant findings of need. First, these findings are based
on parent self-report, which may inherently have problems associated with reliability and
external validity. Reliability may be adversely impacted due to the inconsistency in
parent responses due to the subjective nature of personal perceptions. Compromised
reliability may result in limited practical generalizability of the findings to the population
141
at large (Patton, 2002). Second, the total number of usable surveys was 20 out of the total
1,160 distributed surveys, believed to be a relatively narrow band of potential responders.
In comparison to another parent survey, Ralph et al. (2003) had a 32% response rate for
parents in an urban setting, which is believed to be more typical of survey research. There
may be systematic differences that were unaccounted for in parents who attended parent
meetings and responded to the survey when compared to non-responders. Specifically,
parents who attended parent meetings and responded may be more involved with their
adolescent, may be experiencing more intense challenges that motivate them to share
their challenges, or may have higher school involvement in general that does not reflect a
truly average parent.
Specific Research needed to clarify or extend finding. The most significant
findings of parent needs extracted from the current research is best viewed as preliminary
in nature. Future researchers may begin to clarify these findings using larger sample
sizes, and perhaps with the utilization of mixed methods approach to more effectively
make statistical comparisons. The focus of future research should continue to build an
empirical data-base related to parents of typical adolescents as they have been found to
have a primary parent need in the area of navigating the educational institution, as
opposed to within family problems that typify the experiences of parents with exceptional
children. After a coherent, reliable and valid understanding of needs in the area of
supporting their adolescent’s academic progress has been established, extended research
should emphasize the development of aligned effective and efficient parent programs.
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Research Question 2: Insights in Parent Needs Aligned
with Parent Differences
The second research question intended to extract any salient differences in the
parents’ needs in alignment with differences in parent ethnic and demographic
characteristics. The survey document obtained specific ethnic and demographic data,
defined as the aspects of parent ethnicity, parent age, marital status, family income,
parent education level, number of children in household, child age, child gender, and
child exceptionality status. It was also important to reiterate that the surveys were
administered in both English and Spanish, the two most prominent languages spoken by
parents in LAUSD, intended to capture a more representative sample of parents.
The rationale for examining parent needs across various parent characteristic
variables was to inform decision making for parent education program intervention
selection and to potentially guide future research on parent education program
development. Further, this research was guided by the assessment to intervention
philosophy that promotes the alignment of needs assessment data with targeted
interventions that are sensitive to learning preferences. Ultimately, identifying needs in
relation to parent differences may provide current and future researchers and practitioners
with information to develop and utilize the most efficient and effective parent education
program to meet parent needs.
Prior to discussing the findings of differences in parent need based on ethnic and
demographic characteristics, it is useful to eliminate the independent variables that did
not appear to result in meaningful alignments in need in the group of parent responders.
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There were no apparent alignments in parent needs when responses were compared
across parent age, number of children in household, marital status of the parent, parent
gender, or on child characteristics of gender or age.
Ultimately, there were nuanced differences that emerged between different
patterns of responses in relation to differences in parent characteristics. It was
challenging to draw firm and clear conclusions about differences in parent needs in
relation to such parent qualities due to the nature of the data collection method, potential
confounds of the sample characteristics, and other methodological weaknesses, discussed
below. It appeared that the most meaningful differences in response patterns were related
to differences in socio-economic status (SES), defined as the factors of family income
and parent education levels. Parent ethnicity also appeared to be a factor associated with
response differences, but less clear than the other factors. Responses to the topic ranking
item provided the most useful information for examining alignment patterns across parent
characteristics (see Table 4 and Table 5).
The first emergent pattern of differences occurred in a group of four parents with
the highest income levels, all greater than $70,000, and who represented the most
educated participants in the sample, and who were Black/African American or bi-racial
Black-African American and Hispanic/Latino. All four of these responders indicated that
the parent need in the area of improving their adolescent’s social interactions was within
their top three topic ranking priorities. There were no other parent participants who
indicated that the topic of their adolescent’s social interactions was within their top three
topic choices.
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A possible explanation to this difference may be provided when examined
through the theoretical lens of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Hagerty, 1999). Briefly,
Maslow proposed that human motivation is driven from the avoidance of pain or the
pursuit of desired outcomes in relation to a hierarchy of five needs: (a) the first need
represents the physiological needs, such as food, water, and air; (b) the second are safety
needs from physical or emotional harm; (c) the third need is for belongingness, or the
attainment of love, affection, and community; (d) the fourth are esteem needs,
characterized by feelings of status or having high personal regard; and (e) the fifth need
are for self-actualization, using all of one’s personal capacities to the fullest possible
potential (Hagerty, 1999).
It is possible that the parent group with the highest incomes and most education
differ from the lower income, less educated parents in their needs as they have penetrated
the hierarchy of needs into Maslow’s fourth level of a need for esteem. It is telling that all
of the high income and most educated parents expressed a desire for their adolescent to
improve their social behaviors, which may directly or indirectly impact the parent’s
attainment of esteem. From this perspective, an adolescent with well-developed social
behaviors would align with and support the esteem of parents with high incomes and
education. Conversely, an adolescent with social challenges may potentially damage a
parent’s attainment of esteem. The natural goal of parents who have met all of their basic
physiological, safety, and belongingness needs is to work to meet their esteem needs and
beyond.
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A second example of subtle parent differences occurred with two participants
with Master’s Degrees, family incomes over $100,000, and of Black/African American
descent, who were the only participants to rank in their top three the need to learn more
about their adolescent’s emotional development (see Table 4). This represented 50% of
the participants of Black/African American descent and 66% of the over $100,000
income earners and participants with the highest education levels. Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs may offer another reasonable explanation to this finding. Parents with lower
financial status may have more pressing needs representing physiological or safety needs.
The parents who indicated a desire to learn more about their adolescent’s emotional
development are likely operating in Maslow’s needs for belonging or esteem, which
presupposes that the more basic needs were met. Other than the findings discussed above
and in the results section, there were no other emergent or meaningful alignments in need
associated with different parent characteristics.
Convergence with research. There are legitimate concerns expressed in the
research literature that parent education programs are too often validated on primarily
Caucasian parents of middle to high socio-economic-status, thus risking misalignment
with the needs of more diverse parent populations (Gorden-Rosen, Rosen, 1984; Kuhl,
A., 2007, Nord, J., 2007; Owens et al., 2007; Reid et al., 2001). The research literature
supports the conclusion that within diverse urban communities, parent education
programs are most beneficial to parents when they are socio-culturally relevant (Dumas,
Nissley-Tsiopinis, & Moreland, 2007). Previous research has also indicated that
146
recruitment, engagement, and program completion rates are related to the extent to which
parent programs are socio-culturally relevant (Dumas et al., 2007; Marek et al., 2006).
Further, historical research in the peer-reviewed literature has implicated parent
characteristic differences with differences in needs. For example, Ralph et al. (2003)
found the demographic variable of poverty was associated with more severe adolescent
behavior problems. Similar to the findings of high SES parents mentioned above, in his
master’s thesis, Nord (2007) found that high family income parents (>$75,000/year
income) were concerned with themes of typical academic progress, reaching academic
potential, and parental roles.
Parent differences on ethnic and demographic variables are important
considerations when selecting or developing a parent education program. Although not
strongly emergent in the current research, other researchers have found important
implications between parent characteristics and parent needs and responsiveness to parent
education programs (see Kuhl, 2007; Marek et al., 2006; Nord, 2007). In the peer-
reviewed literature, an important difference was the finding that parents from low SES
backgrounds responded more favorably to individual parent training relative to group
parent training programs (Lundahl et al., 2005). This was believed to be the result of the
facilitator being able to adapt program content to the specific needs of the low SES
family.
Although socio-cultural relevance is evidently important from the research
literature, the results of the current research findings do not appear to support
significantly meaningful alignment differences in the two primary parent needs in
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relation to different parent characteristics. The current research findings emphasized that
the majority of parents of typical adolescents, irrespective of parent ethnic or
demographic characteristics, have parent needs in the areas of academic progress support
and parent-child communication. One area of minor difference was that parents of high
socio-economic status (SES) tended to emphasize a future orientation toward academic
success, as opposed to needs about current academic progress. When differences in
parent needs emerged, they appeared to vary more as a function of the factors of SES, as
opposed to parent ethnicity.
Limitations to findings of cultural differences in need. The greatest limitations to
the current findings of limited differences in parent needs when compared to parent
characteristics are associated with the broad methodological weaknesses. One of the
primary problems was the participant characteristic clustering on multiple ethnic and
demographic items, which resulted in a lack of heterogeneity between characteristics. For
example and noted in the results section, there may have been a systematic difference in a
cluster of three responders who all had the highest income levels above $100,000 relative
to the group, the highest education levels relative to the group, all with Master’s Degrees,
and were all of Black/African American ethnic descent. This group of three responders
all indicated that they do not have any concerns about their adolescent engaging in
behaviors that may cause them harm (risk-behaviors), while the majority of other
responders indicated a concern in this area. It is impossible to make the determination
that these differences were aligned with any one parent characteristic, or a combination of
multiple characteristics. Further, multiple sub-themes of need suggested differences in
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responses aligned with family income levels, but it was difficult to tease apart specific
alignment differences due to the overlap of participant characteristics in the areas of
parent education and ethnicity. Previous research has shown that the individual factors
associated with global measures of SES tend to vary systematically; however, caution
should be used because the strength of the relationship between these factors is dependent
on sampling methodology and is generally considered a moderate correlation (Braveman,
2005).
Further research to clarify or extend findings. Future parent education program
research may clarify these findings in several ways. First, needs-based research must
continue to evolve and proliferate to extract themes and sub-themes of needs from all
potential consumers of parent education programs. Future researchers may extend these
findings by utilizing a larger sample size of diverse parents to increase the reliability
(consistency) and external validity of the findings. Second, research needs to be
conducted utilizing a variety of data collection methods that do not unfairly limit the
ability of parents to respond. For example, the written survey utilized in the current
research may have been laborious to read, or possibly even unreadable for parents with
low literacy skills. Future researchers may use interviews, observation, focus groups, and
possibly other quantitative measures to extend the current findings to inform alignment
decisions between parent characteristics and needs.
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Research Question 3: Insights Related to the Alignment of
Existing Programs with Parent Needs
The analysis of the alignment between existing programs theoretical foundations
and outcome goals with the current needs findings offers important information to inform
decision making about existing parent education solutions or the need for new parent
education programs. This analysis explores the two primary findings of parent needs in
relation to existing parent program research. The first step in this analysis was to compare
the needs findings with the theories and outcome goals of existing parent education
programs and research. The discussion then offers several potential explanations for the
convergence or divergence with existing literature. Lastly, the analysis concludes with
potential implications for these findings.
Academic Progress Needs
A divergence between the findings above and the majority of existing
empirically-based parent education programs and research emerged. Interestingly, the
vast majority of formalized, published, and peer-reviewed parent education programs do
not directly address the parent education needs of supporting the adolescent’s current or
future academic progress. Several of the most widely published and researched group
parent education programs, such as Triple P (Sanders, 1999), STEP (Dinkmeyer, McKay,
& Dinkmeyer, 1997), and PET (Gorden, 1970, 2000), focus almost exclusively on
modifying parent cognitions and behaviors to positively affect internal family relations,
as opposed to focusing on the adolescent’s academic progress. Popular group parent
education programs appear to be designed for the specific purpose of improving family
150
functioning through a variety of methods to ultimately reduce highly disruptive child or
adolescent behavioral problems in the home, to reduce frequency and intensity of family
conflict, and to improve positive parenting behaviors. As a group, popular peer-reviewed
parent education programs do not address academic progress as a core component of the
programs.
It is important to point out a notable exception to the overwhelming evidence of
divergence between the current findings and the empirical literature. Haggerty et al.
(2002) surveyed parents of 1
st
and 2
nd
grade typical and non-typical public-school
children for the universal parent intervention Raising Healthy Children (RHC) program
prior to program implementation. Similar to the findings from the current research, over
90% of the Haggerty et al. (2002) parent sample indicated that they had an interest in
learning how to better support their child’s academic development.
The Haggerty et al. (2002) survey was utilized to align parent education program
content with parent topic preferences to evaluate the extent to which parent factors such
as socio-economic status (SES) and parent education predicted child behavior and parent
education participation rates. The researchers found that the more highly educated parents
appeared to be more receptive to group parent education formats and they concluded
universal parent education programs may appeal to a demographically diverse group of
parents. Another significant finding from Haggerty et al. (2002) was that elevated parent
perceptions of child antisocial behavior were positively correlated to parent attendance
rates at parent meetings, suggesting that even parent programs that emphasized academic
supports appealed to parents with children engaging in antisocial behaviors. The RHC
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researchers did not discuss, however, the relationship between the extent of alignment
between parent education program content and parent needs as a potential factor in the
appeal of the universal parent education program. Although the Haggerty et al. (2002)
study was conducted on parents far below the age range of the current research sample,
the current research findings extends those findings of primary need in the area of
academic progress to parents of typical adolescents.
Explanations of divergence. The specific parent needs found in the current
research are important to consider in the context of existing parent education programs.
There is currently a misalignment between the primary parents’ needs finding in the area
of academic progress and the majority of popular parent education programs’ theory and
outcome goals. Several considerations may help to explain the alignment problem
between the parent need of academic progress support and existing parent education
program content.
At the program delivery level, differences in various core parent education
program theories and models, the required qualifications of the program facilitator, and
the intended parent audience, may partially explain the misalignment between needs and
available content. For example, the widely utilized nationally and internationally
distributed parent education programs (e.g., STEP, PET, etc.) focus interventions within
the scope of the family unit, with an emphasis on changing parent thoughts and behaviors
to affect changes in internal family functioning. Specifically, the non-behavioral theory-
based parent education programs, Adlerian and Client-Centered approaches helps parents
to integrate a democratic-style of parenting as a core family belief system and structure,
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as opposed to an authoritarian or permissive parenting approach (Gordon, 1970, 2000;
Dinkmeyer, McKay, & Dinkmeyer, 1997). A parent education program that organizes
content around promoting a shift in parenting styles as a fundamental philosophy is not
likely to adequately provide information or skill building to parents with a primary need
to support their adolescent’s academic progress. Parents of typical adolescents may be
satisfied with their parenting styles and these programs would likely be ineffective
because they do not address the presenting primary need of academic supports.
Additionally, the parent education program facilitators of the national and
internationally developed group parent education programs may also partially explain the
divergence between the need of supporting adolescent’s academic development and the
existing parent education programs. Most of the empirically validated and widely used
parent education programs are designed to be facilitated by trained therapeutic
practitioners who have specializations in working with parents in multiple professional
capacities. The pivot point of change in these programs is generally the parent; a
qualified facilitator will likely be a specialist in the field of parenting and family
functioning. Therefore, the parent educator’s background, training, and experiences may
influence the practitioner’s bias to operate within the boundaries of their scope of
expertise, the core of the family functioning problem, namely the parent. These parent
specialists may then select a program that aligns with both their personal and professional
world-view and the perceived parenting problem (i.e., divorce, child misbehavior), as
opposed to open parent needs-driven program content. Formalized parent education
programs, such as STEP and PET also have a prescriptive curriculum sequence where
153
qualified facilitators guide parents through theory and practice to integrate the program
principles and strategies. Derivation from the script in response to parent needs in these
programs in particular, is not a normal aspect of the program curriculum.
At the program level, another possible explanation of the lack of alignment
between the self-reported parent needs in the area of academics and the widely available
parent education program content is the intended audience of the large-scale parent
education programs. Many of the widely researched group-based parent education
programs are intended for parents experiencing parenting problems specifically in the
area of management of a child or adolescent’s behavior within the family. Widely used
parent education programs, such as Triple P (Sanders, 1999), were designed for parents
experiencing child or adolescent behavior problems. Each level of program intensity
matches the increasing intensity of child or adolescent behavior problems. Many
theoretically-based and problem-centered parent programs have been effective in
reducing perceptions of behavioral problems in adolescents; however, they do not
provide any curriculum solutions to parents of typical adolescents experiencing current or
potential academic challenges.
There are three additional potential explanations to the lack of alignment between
program content and the primary need of typical parents, external to the program and
family contexts. First, kindergarten through 12
th
grade public education is largely a local
endeavor guided by state proficiency standards guidelines and legal requirements for high
school graduation. One example of an important difference between high school
graduation requirements exists between the neighboring states of California and Arizona.
154
The state of California has adopted into law an additional requirement to earn a high
school diploma that requires passage of a standardized assessment, the California High
School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) (California Department of Education, 2009). The
CAHSEE requires students to pass both the English-Language Arts and Mathematics
sections in addition to the requirements of earning a credit threshold in required courses.
The neighboring state of Arizona also legally mandates requirements for earning a high
school diploma, but successful passage of a proficiency exam is not required by state law
(Arizona State Board of Education, 2009). The resulting impact of the different
requirements for a high school diploma in California as opposed to Arizona may require a
differential emphasis on parent education program content between the states due to this
dramatic requirement difference. Ultimately, differences in local educational
requirements lower the probability that universal national and international parent
education programs will meet local information or skill building needs.
A second possible explanation that may explain why large-scale parent education
programs do not include content on academic requirements is found in the complexity of
post-secondary educational entrance requirements. In the United States alone, there are
over 4,300 post-secondary educational programs available to students in the United
States, with a wide range of ever changing standards for entrance (Degree Granting
Institutions, 2008). This academic context of complexity makes the widely used national
and international group parent education programs hopelessly insensitive to the practical
differences between both matriculation requirements and post-secondary entrance
requirements.
155
There are certain aspects that may be included in a parent education program that
are of universal importance and may help parents to be more successful at supporting
current and future academic competence. For example, parent programs may include
universal concepts that support academic progress, such as methods to increase home-
school communication, accessing academic support services, and methods to obtain
information about post-secondary entrance requirements. There is a risk, however, that
local differences in academic standards, matriculation, and post-secondary entrance
requirements may vary so greatly and change so quickly that the eroded parent
information may not be helpful to parents.
To summarize, popular group-based parent education programs’ theoretical
orientation, facilitator, and intended audience frames the scope of intervention at the
family unit level with the ultimate goal of changing internal family dynamics. For parents
of exceptional children, programs that focus on family dynamics may be the most closely
aligned with their needs given the probability of more intense within family challenges.
However, in the context of parenting typical adolescents, existing group parent education
programs do not adequately support parents’ needs when they are seeking external
context supports in regards to their adolescent’s academic progress. Further, the
complexity of the ever-evolving local differences in school matriculation requirements
and post-secondary options may be an insurmountable hurdle for large-scale parent
education programs to deliver timely, accurate, and helpful content related to academic
supports.
156
Implications of divergence. The divergence between the most significant finding
of need in the area of academics and the lack of alignment in popular parent education
programs may result in several important implications. The first implication is that new
parent education programs will need to be developed that focus on the content area of
academic progress with an emphasis on effectively meeting the parents’ information and
academic skill needs. Almost all of the popular, peer-reviewed parent education programs
in existence will likely be unsuccessful in meeting this need because the program content
does not directly align with this need, as discussed above. One of the primary purposes of
aligning parent education program content with the parent needs is to increase program
enrollment rates, parent engagement levels, and program completion rates (Dumas et al.,
2007).
A great challenge exists with meeting localized parent needs with wide-scale
universal parent education programs due to the complexity of differences between local
school requirements, matriculation requirements, and post-secondary educational
entrance requirements. These local differences may best be overcome through the
utilization of a parent education program that is broken into modules. The academic
support module would best be designed with a scaffold framework that blends universally
applicable academic support information and skill building with content that is adaptable
for local differences in academic requirements. For example, parents across the country
may all be taught methods of maximizing academic achievement through helping their
adolescent establish a study routine and teaching academic self-regulation skills (Dembo
& Seli, 2008). An adaptable component for a large-scale parent education program that is
157
sensitive to local differences would provide plug-and-play information on topics such as
local high school graduation requirements, where the facilitator customizes content in the
curriculum sequence.
Parent-Child Communication Needs
The majority of the parent responders on the topic ranking item indicated that
improving parent-adolescent communication was the second highest rated topic of parent
need. These findings paralleled the Haggerty et al. (2002) survey findings where 85% of
participating parents indicated that they wanted to learn about how to improve
communication with their child. Unlike the finding of parent needs to support academic
progress discussed above, this finding of need in the area of parent-adolescent
communication is a far more common content topic in the body of peer-reviewed parent
education literature.
There was strong convergence between the topic of parent-adolescent
communication needs and content provided in popular, peer-reviewed parent education
programs. For example, the Triple P (Sanders, 1999) program emphasized nine pivotal
parenting skills, with one of the nine focusing on relationship enhancement skills
between the parent and their child. Additionally, the Adlerian-theory and Client-Centered
theory-based parent education programs focus on a variety of parent-adolescent
communication skills with the goal of promoting clear and honest communication
(Dinkmeyer & McKay, 1976; Fashimpar, 2000). Two of the of the most popular non-
behavioral theory-based parent education programs, STEP (Dinkmeyer & McKay, 1976;
Dinkmeyer, McKay, & Dinkmeyer, 1997) and PET (Gordon, 1970, 2000), utilize the
158
communication enhancement techniques of I-messages and teaching parents active
listening skills. Additionally, the PET program teaches parents the use of specific parent-
child principles of no-lose communication that purportedly helps children become
independent problem-solvers (Dembo et al., 1985; Gordon, 2000).
Explanations of convergence. There are multiple possible explanations to the
convergence between the parent self-perception of need in parent-child communication
and the alignment with the peer-reviewed parent education programs and research.
Although not all parents of adolescents experience internal family communication
difficulties, there is a general societal impression that the developmental period of
adolescence is associated with increased family dysfunction (Arnett, 1999; Hines &
Paulson, 2006). At the heart of family dysfunction are problematic communication
patterns (Haley, 1997). These problems may be associated with the adolescent seeking
increased autonomy from parents as the child approaches adulthood (Arnett, 1999).
Parent education programs may offer information and skill training that provides
normalization of this experience, and specific strategies to reduce communication
difficulties. Many popular empirically-based parent education programs have been found
to be generally effective at improving parent perceptions of child behavior and with
positively changing parent-child communication patterns (e.g., Bor et al., 2002; Lundahl
et al., 2006; Nowak & Heinrichs, 2008; Webster-Stratton, 1984, 2001).
Additionally, many existing parent education programs focus exclusively on the
context of the family unit, as opposed to extra-familial contexts. The tight focus on the
functioning of the family unit logically leads parent program developers to focus on an
159
important observable characteristic of the family, transactional communication. Many
parent education programs emphasize the integration of new transactional
communication skills including the use of positive, open, and clear communication
within the family unit to build family cohesion and to reduce family conflict (e.g.,
Dinkmeyer, McKay, & Dinkmeyer, 1997; Gordon 1970, 2000; Nystul, 1982). The
resulting effects of directly focusing on changing the communication patterns in the
family unit may lead to visible, immediate, and powerful changes on overall family
functioning as communication patterns transform (Haley, 1997; Watzlawick & Beavin,
1967).
Implications of convergence. The convergence between the parent need for
improving parent-adolescent communication and the existing parent literature results in
an important implication. Solutions to effectively improve parent-adolescent
communication abound in the existing parent education program literature. In parent
education programs, such as Behavioral Family Interventions, PET, and STEP, research
has supported that parent-child relationships and communication patterns have positively
improved as a result of participation in the program (e.g., Fashimpar, 2000; Noller &
Taylor, 1989; Taylor & Biglan, 1998). Although these programs vary in their theoretical
approaches, they each share strategic components that help parents to make changes that
positively impact the parent-child dyad, and more specifically improve communication
patterns.
Further research to extend these findings may be useful in determining the most
effective and efficient parent education programs, instructional methods, and strategies to
160
improve parent-adolescent communication. The emphasis of the research should be on
determining the current quality of the parent-adolescent communication and the effects of
various parent education instruction methods on changing the resulting communication
patterns. Future research lends itself to the methods of experimental analysis to
determine comparative effectiveness of various parent education approaches to
improving parent-adolescent communication.
Global Strengths and Limitations of the Study
The current research study is believed to have successfully extracted valuable, yet
preliminary findings of parent needs from parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds. There
were various strengths of the current research design and methodology that bolster the
value of the conclusions. Conversely, this study should be viewed within the various
limitations that are inherent in all research studies, namely aspects related to reliability,
validity, and other potential methodological problems (Cone & Foster, 2006). Ultimately,
the findings from the current research should be viewed cautiously with careful
consideration of the research strengths and limitations, and within the context of
historical research.
Research Strengths
The present research provided an important contribution to the knowledge and
information gap in the literature about parent needs from the parent’s perspective. After
reviewing the literature on parent needs assessments and parent education programs, it
was found that the majority of parent education programs did not assess parent education
needs. Of the programs and research that did assess parent needs, the quantitative forced-
161
choice method was the dominate design. A primary strength of the current research
design was the use of the qualitative method with cued and open-ended questions that
allowed for the most unrestricted responses possible for parents, as recommended in
Strom (1985) and Clark et al. (2007). A unique and valuable aspect of the current design
was the application of the qualitative method and the use of grounded theory to extract
deep and rich information about the human experience of parenting a typical adolescent.
In addition to the use of qualitative methods, a second strength was the emphasis
on the parent alone as the data source for the findings. Prior parent research appeared to
ignore parent perceptions of need, impose the researchers’ perceptions of what the parent
wants or needs, or did not report findings of parent needs. The current study extracted
parent needs data directly from the primary consumer of the parent education program,
the parents. The needs were distilled from the parents’ words to generate themes and sub-
themes that captured the essence of the parents’ experiences.
A third and unique aspect of strength was that the current researcher focused on
parents of typical adolescents, those who represent the majority of the student population
and who are not identified as gifted or requiring special education services. It was evident
from reviewing the research that most parent education programs generally target parents
of exceptional children, primarily children in the clinical range of cognitive, emotional,
or behavioral development. The current research sought to remedy this gap by capturing
the parent needs of parents of typical adolescents. It was clearly apparent that there is a
misattribution in the existing literature body that parents of typical children and
adolescents do not have significant needs that warrant intervention. The current research
162
revealed that parents of typical children are an underserved population with valid self-
perceptions of need. This research sought to capture data from a diverse population by
focusing needs assessment on parents of adolescents in an urban, ethnically,
linguistically, and demographically diverse community. These parents were purposefully
sampled to represent parents of students attending school within the LAUSD, numbering
over 600,000 students.
A final aspect of strength in the current research was the aspect of generalizing
the findings to compare the parent need themes and sub-themes alignment to existing
parent education programs. The purpose of this comparison was to identify existing
parent education program content alignment with parent needs to increase the probability
that the selection of an existing program will both be effective (i.e., yield desired
outcomes) and efficient (i.e., use participants time and money wisely) . The current
research suggested that multiple existing parent education programs align with the
secondary parent education need to improve parent-child communication. Conversely, it
was found that existing parent programs will likely not meet the primary parent need of
learning about academic supports. Therefore, new parent education programs will need to
be developed to meet this need. A proposed parent education model is discussed below.
Research Limitations
There are a variety of limitations to the current research related to the research
method and design that may impact reliability and validity of the findings. The first and
most problematic limitation was the sampling method to gather responses from parents
attending parent meetings at local schools throughout LAUSD. The researchers attended
163
multiple parent meetings and disseminated 1,160 surveys to parents from kindergarten
through 12
th
grade. It is possible that parents who attended parent meetings differed from
the average parent as they were more involved, had more pressing issues that motivated
them to be involved, or differed systematically among other characteristics from those
not attending meetings. Although additional surveys were given to meeting participants
to disseminate to non-attending parents, there were no methods in place to differentiate
between surveys completed by parent meeting attendees or non-attendees.
Although the sample size was sufficient to yield response saturation, it was
potentially problematic because multiple participants appeared to systematically vary
from the group, along multiple parent characteristics. This impacts consistency of the
findings (reliability), and may limit the usefulness of the findings for external decision-
making (external validity).
Another potential problem was that the research information sheet and survey
document were lengthy documents that required significant amount of time to read,
complete, and return. Additionally, the nature of the survey document required
participants to have sufficient literacy skills in either English or Spanish. This fact may
have contributed to the low response rate as potential participants with low literacy skills
may have been intimidated by the research document. An evident example of this effect
is apparent in the comparison of the SES factors in Tables 4 and 5. In general, parents
with mid to high-SES correctly completed item 11, while those in the lower SES range
did not correctly complete item 11, and were left out of the response analysis.
164
Recommendations for New Parent Education Programs
A continual push for effective and efficient parent programs will drive future
parent education program development and research that that is ideally aligned with
parent needs. Parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds, by definition, have more normalized
internal family functioning that may not require comprehensive and intense parent
education programs. However, the parents of typical adolescents have strong perceptions
of parenting needs and appear to be highly interested consumers of parent information,
products, and services, as detailed in the review of literature. Although historically, it
appears that parents have had a muted voice in determining the content of parent
education programs, it is reasonable to conclude that the immense volume of available
parent education programs indicates that professionals are providing services that are
appealing to parent consumers (Carter, 1996). For too long, the content of parent
education programs have been biased toward the prescriptions of parent education
professional, without regard to what the parents want or need. Ultimately, the researcher
agrees with Nord’s (2007) contention that an ideal parent education program would
synthesize the parent needs themes with the knowledge and expertise of parent education
professionals.
Based on the current findings, the following suggestions may provide a blueprint
for an effective parent education program that is aligned with parent education needs of
parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds. This blueprint is conceptualized in the tradition of
needs-driven, structured parent education programs (see Haggerty et al., 2002). The
165
program structure details the practical aspects of program delivery, and follows with a
discussion of program content, including principles and strategies
New Program Structure
The structural components of the proposed parent program will need to
accommodate the various needs of parents of typical adolescents from an urban
community. In order to reduce barriers to participation, the researcher agrees with Reid et
al. (2001) that child care, transportation, and flexible schedules should all be
considerations to maximize participation rates. Further, we know that the method of
instruction is a critical aspect of program design to maximize engagement and program
completion (Marek et al., 2006).
It is recommended that a new parent education program be designed around
modular units of instruction based on parent needs, much like the program described in
the Raising Healthy Children (RHC) program (Haggerty et al., 2002). These modules can
be stand-alone units that are interchangeable in multi-unit sequences dependent on
findings of parent needs. For example, the current research indicated that the primary
parent need was in the area of academic supports, with a secondary need in the area of
parent-child communication. A new program may offer stand-alone units of instruction
(i.e., academic unit, or communication unit) that are offered at various times, various
locations, and provide transportation and child care. Unfortunately, an aspect of group
collaboration and peer support networks may be lost when parents attend discontinuous
sequences of instruction (Reid et al., 2001). However, what is lost in group cohesiveness
166
is thought to be more than overcome by maximizing first and foremost the alignment
with parent needs, and also practical convenience for parents.
In addition to the modular unit structure, the method of instruction is an important
consideration for program developers. It is recommended that the modules of a new
parent education program be adaptable to parent learning characteristics to maximize
engagement and program completion (Marek at al., 2006). It is recommended that new
programs implement mixed-method instructional practices, taking the best aspects of the
most popular approaches, including a combination of video and role-play modeling,
lecture and informational materials, homework and reflective exercises, and opportunities
for sharing personal experiences. Similar to professional teachers, parent educators must
be competent instructors to differentiate instructional methods to accommodate the
learning strengths and weaknesses of students.
A final structural component of a proposed parent education program is the
continued utilization of needs and outcome assessments to drive decision making about
program content, and to fully complete the assessment to intervention loop (Martens &
Eckert, 2000). It is proposed that regular formative assessments of parent needs be
utilized to obtain an on-going understanding of parent needs, and to measure the extent to
which programs are meeting parent needs. These assessments need not be as thorough as
a comprehensive needs assessment like the one presented in the current research. Rather,
the on-going assessments are recommended to be designed as indicators or brief
snapshots of parent needs and outcomes that combine both qualitative and quantitative
167
methods to yield statistically informative data, as well as more subjective parent
perceptions.
New Program Content
In addition to the new program structural components, a new parent education
program that is aligned with parent education needs must consider program principles
and strategies. Program principles are conceptualized as the more pragmatic aspects of
general theory that grounds the program within a logical framework. The strategies are a
combination of the specific information and skills that are included in the program.
Principles and strategies. It has been previously discussed that there are various
theoretical approaches and principles in the array of available parent education programs.
A new parent education program designed for parents of typical adolescents should be
grounded in one or more principles that have been found to provide effective and
efficient results. Lundahl et al. (2006) indicated that behavioral theory-based and non-
behavioral theory-based parent programs were both found to be beneficial approaches;
however, for clinically significant populations, the behavioral theory-based programs
were found to be more beneficial. Considering that parents of typical children are not in
the clinical range, future program developers may frame their programs in a theoretical
approach that aligns with a philosophy that encompasses either of these perspectives. It is
especially important for future program developers to consider that the most effective
parent programs contain clear outcome objectives that emphasize changes in specific
parenting behaviors (Hoard & Shepard, 2005).
168
A future parent program, aligned with needs identified in the current research,
will likely draw from both behavioral and non-behavioral theories. For example, in a unit
on academic supports, a parent program may utilize a component of behavioral theory
where parents learn to reinforce their adolescent after successful completion of
homework (Lundahl et al., 2006). A parent education unit on improving parent-child
communication can draw from the non-behavioral theory-based programs to teach
parents democratic parenting strategies and specific communication strategies
(Dinkmeyer et al., 1997; Gordon, 2000).
There are multiple strategies that future program developers may consider useful
to maximize effectiveness. In the unit on academics, it is proposed that future researchers
combine universal academic support strategies with a scaffold framework where specific
content is substituted dependent on local differences. Under these conditions, parents will
integrate parenting skills that best support their adolescent’s academic progress. Further,
parents will be exposed to the most accurate, up to date information available that reflects
local differences in matriculation requirements, and post-secondary options.
An example of another strategy that program developers may utilize in a parent
program is to teach specific skills that maximizes the development of positive parent-
child communication. Specifically, parents may be taught strategies of no-lose
communication (Gordon, 2000) and clear and honest communication skills (Taylor &
Biglan, 1998). The behavioral theory-based Triple P program also offers specific parent
skill training that may be beneficial in meeting parent needs by teaching parents
169
strategies to improve their adolescent’s self-regulation skills, mood management, and
coping skills (Sanders, 1999).
Conclusion
The resulting source material derived from an ever-evolving research base on
parent needs may lead to the development of future programs that are both efficient and
minimize resource expenditure while resulting in maximum effect. Parents of typical 14
to 17-year olds were found to have two broad needs: (a) supporting their adolescent’s
academic development, and (b) improving parent-adolescent communication. There
were tertiary needs identified in order of perceived importance including teaching
adolescents self-regulation skills, reducing risk behaviors, improving social interactions,
teaching parent’s values, discipline, and emotional development. It was found that there
were aspects of existing parent programs that align with the parent needs; however, it was
suggested that existing programs fall short of meeting parent needs in the area of local
differences in academic information. Ultimately, future parent program developers are
encouraged to explicitly consider parent education needs in an attempt to align program
content. In addition, although not clearly evident in the current research, future
researchers and interventionists are encouraged to be mindful of the impact of ethnic and
demographic factors in the design, dissemination, and implementation of new parent
education programs to maximize socio-cultural relevance of program content with
participant characteristics.
170
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179
Appendix A: Research Information Sheet (English)
University of Southern California ~ Rossier School of Education
RESEARCH INFORMATION SHEET
You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by co-investigators
Dayna Belvin, Ed.D. candidate, Charles Cho, Ed.D. candidate, Deon Brady, Ed.D.
candidate, Michael Keller, Ed.D. candidate, and Principal Investigator Dr. Ginger Clark,
Ph.D. You were selected as a possible participant in this study because you are a parent
of a child or adolescent. Your participation is voluntary. You must be aged 18 or older
to participate. Please take as much time as you need to read the information sheet. You
may also decide to discuss it with your family or friends. You may experience some
discomfort in answering the survey questions. If you have any questions about this study,
you may contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Ginger Clark, at (213) 740-3479. Thank
you for your participation.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This study is designed to investigate the needs of parents of children and
adolescents about what information they need to feel more confident in parenting. The
information gained may be used to develop parent education programs to better meet
parent needs.
PROCEDURES
If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will do the following things:
1. Answer a survey about your needs as a parent of a child or adolescent.
2. Return the survey when completed.
Completion and return of the survey will constitute consent to participate in this
research project.
POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
There are no anticipated risks to your participation. You may experience some
discomfort at completing the questionnaire or you may be inconvenienced from taking
time out of your day to complete the questionnaire.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO SUBJECTS AND/OR TO SOCIETY
You will not directly benefit from your participation. However, there may be
indirect benefits. These indirect benefits include the potential to help professionals
develop parent education programs that are specifically designed to meet the identified
needs of parents based on the information you provide. The results from the study will
180
provide key information for the selection and/or development of future parent education
programs in LAUSD. Recommendations will be made about which types of programs
are most helpful to parents, and should therefore be made easily available to parents
through school systems, community resources, web-based resources, and medical groups.
PAYMENT FOR PARTICIPATION
You will not be paid for your participation.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Information that is obtained in connection with this study is confidential and
anonymous. Only members of the research team will have access to the data associated
with this study. The data will be kept in the Principal Investigator’s secure, locked
storage cabinet. Hard copies of the data (paper documents) will be stored for ten years
after the study has been completed and then destroyed.
PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
You can choose whether to be in this study or not. If you volunteer to be in this
study, you may withdraw at any time without consequences of any kind. You may also
refuse to answer any questions you don't want to answer and still remain in the study. The
investigator may withdraw you from this research if circumstances occur, which in the
opinion of the researcher warrant doing so.
ALTERNATIVES TO PARTICIPATION
Your alternative is to not participate in this study.
IDENTIFICATION OF INVESTIGATORS
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact
• Dr. Ginger Clark (ginger.clark@usc.edu) or (213) 740-3479
• Dayna Belvin (belvin@usc.edu)
• Deon Brady (deonbrad@usc.edu)
• Charles Cho (charles.cho@usc.edu) or (cjc9344@lausd.net)
• Michael Keller (mjkeller@usc.edu)
181
RIGHTS OF RESEARCH SUBJECTS
You may withdraw at any time and discontinue participation without penalty. You
are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies because of your participation in this
research study. If you have any questions about your rights as a study subject or you
would like to speak to someone independent of the research team to obtain answers to
questions about the research, or in the event the research staff can not be reached, please
contact the University Park IRB, Office of the Vice Provost for Research Advancement,
Stonier Hall, Room 224a, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1146, (213) 821-5272 or
upirb@usc.edu.
An Executive Summary will be published after the study is completed and the
findings will be presented to the parents of the Los Angeles Unified School District and
the LAUSD Parent-Community Facilitators in the fall of 2009. LAUSD may use the
findings from the study for their own benefit. In addition, publication of this study will be
available at the University of Southern California Library and the LAUSD Parent
Community Services Branch.
PLEASE RETURN THE SURVEY BY APRIL 15, 2009 TO:
Dr. Ginger Clark, Ph.D
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
Waite Phillips Hall, Room 1001C
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4038
182
Appendix B: Parent Education Needs Survey (English)
Parent Education Needs Survey
Dear Parent: We appreciate your time in completing this survey. You can choose
whether to participate in this study or not. If you volunteer to be in this study, you may
withdraw at any time without consequences of any kind. You may also refuse to answer
any questions you do not want to answer and still remain in the study. You may
experience some discomfort in answering the questions. If you have any questions about
this study, you may contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Ginger Clark, at (213) 740-
3479. Thank you for your participation.
1. Are you? Male_____ Female_____ 2. What is your age? _____years old
3. What is your ethnicity? (check all that
apply)
_____White/Caucasian
_____Asian
_____Hispanic/Latino
_____Black/African American
_____Pacific Islander
_____American Indian or Alaska Native
_____Other: ______________________
4. What is your marital/relationship
status?
_____Married/Legally committed
_____Divorced
_____Separated
_____Cohabitating
_____Committed Relationship
_____Widowed
_____Single
5. What is the highest degree or level of
school that you have completed?
_____No high school
_____Some high school
_____High school diploma/GED
_____Some college
_____Associate degree/Technical/Trade school
_____Bachelor’s degree
_____Master’s degree
_____Doctorate or Professional Degree
(M.D., D.O., D.D.S., J.D., Ph.D., Ed.D.)
6. What is your annual household
income?
_____ $0-$19,999
_____ $20,000-$29,999
_____ $30,000-$39,999
_____ $40,000-$49,999
_____ $50,000-$59,999
_____ $60,000-$69,999
_____ $70,000-$99,999
_____ $100,000+
183
7. How many children do you have?
_____ 1
_____ 2
_____ 3
_____ 4
_____ 5
_____ 6+
8. As a parent, where do you seek
parenting information and support
(check all that apply)?
_____ LAUSD resources or personnel
Please specify:
__________________
_____ Friends made at child’s
LAUSD school
_____ Parenting classes
_____ School professionals
_____ Medical professionals
_____ Magazines
_____ Books
_____ On the internet
_____ Family
_____ Other (please specify):
____________
_____ Do not seek information
9. Have you ever participated in a parenting program in LAUSD or at another location?
Yes, in LAUSD_____ Yes, at another location ______ No _____
10. If yes, did it meet your needs and why?
184
Parent: Think of your OLDEST CHILD ONLY when answering the following
questions:
11. What is the gender of your oldest child
that you will be discussing?
Male _____ Female _____
12. Is your oldest child receiving
special education services or has your
oldest child been identified by their
school as gifted?
Yes _____ No _____
13. What is the age of your oldest child? ______ years old.
Instructions for the following short answer questions:
The following 11 short answer questions will ask you to think about your needs as a
parent. Please take your time to thoughtfully respond to each question in an open and
honest way. Include any ideas or examples that you think will be important in answering
each question completely.
When thinking about your oldest child or adolescent (child/adolescent), what would
you like to learn in a parenting class about . . .
1. Their Academic progress (e.g., learning, problem-solving)?
2. Preventing or dealing with behaviors that may cause them harm physically or
emotionally?
3. Their social interactions and peer-relationships?
4. Communicating with your child/adolescent?
5. Their feelings and emotional development?
185
6. Their response to difficult or challenging family interactions between people in
your family?
7. Helping you effectively teach your child/adolescent about your value system
(e.g., moral code, right and wrong, etc.)?
8. Discipline: increasing your child/adolescent’s positive behavior and decreasing
negative behaviors?
9. As a parent, what are your concerns or worries about your culture in relation to
raising your oldest child (e.g., ethnicity, age, financial status, family status-e.g.,
single, married, legally committed, divorced, adopted, non-traditional)?
10. Other than what you have already discussed, what else do you think would be
important for you to learn during a parenting class?
11. Of all the issues discussed, please rank the three most important topics that
should be in a parenting class, in your opinion (1- most important, 2- second
most important, 3- third most important):
_____ Academic Progress
_____ Behaviors that may cause them harm emotionally or physically
_____ Social interactions and peer-relationships
_____ Parent-child communication
_____ Child/Adolescent emotional development
_____ Challenging family interactions
_____ Teaching your child your values
_____ Discipline: increasing child’s positive behavior and decreasing negative
behaviors
_____ Your culture and raising your child
_____ Other: _________________________________________
186
Appendix C: Research Information Sheet (Spanish)
Universidad de Southern California ~ Rossier School of Education
HOJA DE INFORMACIÓN DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN
Usted a sido elegido para participar en un estudio de investigación conducida por
co-investigadores Dayna Belvin, Ed.D candidato, Charles Cho, Ed.D. candidato, Deon
Brady, Ed. D. candidato, Michael Keller Ed. D. candidato y la Investigador Principal Dra.
Ginger Cark,
Ph.D. Useted a sido elegido como un possible participante en este estudio porque usted es
padre de un niño/a o adolescente. Su participación es voluntaria. Debe tener 18 años o
mas para participar. Por favor tome el tiempo necesario para leer la hoja de información.
Usted puede tambien discutir esto con su familia y amigos. Usted puede sentir algún
desacomodo en contestar a las pregunas. Si usted tiene cualquier pregunta acerca de este
estudio, usted puede contactar al Investigador Principal Dra. Ginger Clark, a (213) 740-
3479. Gracias por su participación.
PROPÓSITO DEL ESTUDIO
Este estudio a sido diseñado para investigar las necesidades de padres de niños y
adolescentes de la informacion que necesitan para sentirse confiado en parenting. La
información ganada puede ser usada para desarrollar la educación del padre y cubra
mejor las necesidades del padre.
PROCEDIMIENTOS
Si usted se ofrece voluntariamente a participar en el estudio, usted hara lo
siguiente:
1.Contestará la encuesta de sus necesidades como padre de niño o adolescente.
2. Regresar la encuesta cuando está terminado.
Al completar y regresar la encuesta usted contituye a participar en este proyecto de
investigación.
RIESGOS Y MALESTARAS POTENCIALES
No hay riesgos anticipados por su participacion. Usted puede sentir algún
desacomodo en contesar a las preguntas o puede ser inconveniente si toma de su tiempo
libre del dia para completar esta encuesta.
187
VENTAJAS POTENCIALES A LOS TEMAS Y/O A LA SOCIEDAD
Usted no será beneficiado directamete por su participación. Sin embargo, pueden
tener beneficios indirectos. Estas ventajas indirectas incluyen la potencial de ayudar a
profesionales a desarrollar los programas educativos del padre que son especificamente
diseñados a cubrir las necesidades indentificadas del padre basada en la información que
usted proporciona. Los resultados del estudio proporcionará a la infrmación dominanate
para la selección y/o convertirse en programas educativos futuros del padre en LAUSD.
Recomendaciones seran echas sobre que tipo de programas seran mas útil para padres, y
después seran fácilmente disponible para padres en el sistema de escuela, recursos
comunitarios, recursos en Internet, y grupos médicos.
PAGO PARA LA PARTICIPACIÓN
A usted no se le pagará por su participación.
CONFIDENCIALIDAD
Información que será obtenida en conección con esta encuesta es confidencial y
anónima. Solo miebros del equipo de investigación tendran acceso a los datos asociados
con este estudio. Los datos seran guardados en la cabina de almacienamiento bloqueada
del Investigador Pricipal. Los documentos de los datos seran guardados por diez años
después que el estudio esté completo y después destruidos.
PARTICIPACIÓN Y RETIRO
Usted puede elegir ser parte del estudio o no. Si usted voluntariamente está en el
estudio, usted puede retirarse en cualquier momento sin ningunas consequencias. Usted
también puede declinar contestar cualquier pregunta que no quiera contestar y continuar
en el estudio. El investigador puede retirarlo de esta investigación si las circunstancias
ocurren, cuál según la opinion de la autorización del investigador que hace tan.
ALTERNATIVAS A LA PARTICIPACIÓN
Su alternativa es no participar en este estudio.
188
IDENTIFICACIONES DE INVESTIGADORES
Si usted tiene cualquier pregunta acerca de este estudio, sienta por favor
libremente contactar:
• Dra. Ginger Clark (ginger.clark@usc.edu) o al (213) 740-3479
• Dayna Belvin (belvin@usc.edu)
• Deon Brady (deonbrad@usc.edu)
• Charles Cho (charles.cho@usc.edu) o (cjc9344@lausd.net)
• Michael Keller (mjkeller@usc.edu)
LOS DERECHOS DE LOS TEMAS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN
Usted se puede retirar o discontinuar su participación sin pena. Usted no está
renunciando a ningunas demandas legales, derechos o remedios por participar en este
estudio. Si usted tiene preguntas de sus derechos de los temas o le gustaria hablar con
alguien independiente de los grupos de investigadores para obtener respuestas a sus
preguntas o en el acontecimiento el personal de investigación no puede ser contactado,
por favor comuniquese con University Park IRB, oficina de Vice Provost para Research
Advancement, Stonier Hall, Salon 224a, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1146, (213) 821-5272 o
upirb@usc.edu.
Un resumen extenso será publicado después que el estudio esté completo y los
resultados seran presentados a los padres de el Distrito Escolar de Los Angeles (LAUSD)
y LAUSD falicitadores de la comunidad del padre en el otoño del 2009. LAUSD puede
usar los resultados del estudio para beneficiarse. Además, la publicación de este estudio
estará disponible en la librería de la University of Southern California y LAUSD
Ramificaión del Servicio Comunitario del padre.
POR FAVOR DEVUELVA ENCUESTA ANTES DEL 15 DE ABRIL A:
Dr. Ginger Clark, Ph.D
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
Waite Phillips Hall, Room 1001C
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4038
189
Appendix D: Parent Education Needs Survey (Spanish)
La Educación del Padre Necesita Encuesta
Estimado Padre: Agradecemos su tiempo en completar esta encuesta. Usted puede
escoger si participar en este estudio o no. Si usted se ofrece a estar en este estudio, usted
puede dejar de participar en cualquier momento sin consecuencias de cualquier clase.
Usted también puede declinar contestar cualquier preguntas que usted no quiere contestar
y todavía quedarse en el estudio. Usted puede sentir algún desacomodo en contestar a las
preguntas. Si usted tiene cualquier preguntas acerca de este estudio, usted puede contactar
al Investigator Principal, Dr. Ginger Clark, a (213) 740-3479. Gracias por su
participación.
1. ¿Es usted? Masculino______ Hembra______ 2. ¿Qué es su edad? _____años
3. ¿Cuál es su étnicidad? (Marque todo lo
que aplique)
_____ Blanca
_____ Asiática
_____ Hispana/Latina
_____ Negra /africana americana
_____ Islas del Pacífico
_____ India americana o nativa de Alaska
_____ otra: ______________________
4. ¿Cuál es su estado civil?
_____ Casado /legalmente comprometido
_____ Divorciado
_____ Separado
_____ Conviviendo
_____ Relación cometida
_____ Viudo
_____ Soltero
5. ¿Cuál es el título o nivel más alto que
usted tiene completado?
_____ Sin diploma de escuela secundaria
_____ Alguna escuela secundaria
_____ Graduado de escuela secundaria/ GED
_____ Alguna universidad
_____ Título asociado
universitario/tecníco/vocacional
_____ Título de bachiller universitario
_____ Título de maestría
_____ Título de doctorado o profesional
(M.D., D.O., D.D.S., J.D., Ph.D., Ed.D.)
6. ¿Cuál es su ingreso anual de toda la
casa?
_____$0-$19,999
_____$20,000-$29,999
_____$30,000-$39,999
_____$40,000-$49,999
_____$50,000-$59,999
_____$60,000-$69,999
_____$70,000-$99,999
_____$100,000 +
190
7. ¿Cuántos niños tiene usted?
_____ 1
_____ 2
_____ 3
_____ 4
_____ 5
_____ 6 +
8. ¿Como padre, dónde busca usted
información sobre la crianza de hijos y
recursos (marque todo lo que aplica)?
_____ los recursos o personal de LAUSD
Por favor especifique:
__________________________________
_____ Los amigos hechos a la escuela de
LAUSD de su hijo/a
_____ las clases de crianza de los hijos
_____ los profesionales de la escuela
_____ los profesionales médicos
_____ las revistas
_____ los libros
_____ sobre la internet
_____ la familia
_____ otro (por favor especifique):
____________
_____ no busque información
9. Usted alguna vez ha participado de un programa de crianza de los hijos en LAUSD o
en otro lugar?
Sí, en LAUSD _____ Sí, en otro lugar ______ No ______
10. ¿Si sí, cumplió con sus necesidades y por qué?
_______________________________________________________________________
Padre: Piense de su HIJO MÁS MAYOR SÓLO al contestar las siguientes preguntas:
11. ¿Qué es el género de su hijo mayor que usted
discutirá?
Masculino_____ Hembra______
12. ¿Su hijo mayor esta recibiendo
servicios especiales de educación o su
más hijo mayor ha sido identificado por
su escuela como dotado?
Sí _____ No______
13. ¿Qué es la edad de su hijo mayor? ______ años.
191
Las instrucciones para las siguientes preguntas con respuestas cortas:
Las siguientes 11 preguntas con respuestas cortas le preguntarán a usted que piense
acerca de sus necesidades como un padre. Por favor tómese su tiempo pensativamente
responder en cada pregunta en una forma franca y honesta. Incluya cualquieras ideas o
ejemplos que usted piensa serán importantes en contestar a cada pregunta completamente.
Al pensar acerca de su hijo o adolescente mayor (hijo/adolescente), qué a usted le gustaría
aprender en una crianza de los hijos clasifique acerca de . . .
1. Su progreso Académico (e.g., ¿El aprendizaje, la solución de problemas)?
2. ¿Previniendo u ocuparse de comportamientos que les pueden causar daño
físicamente o emotivamente?
3. ¿Sus interacciones sociales y sus relaciones iguales?
4. ¿Comunicándose con su hijo /adolescente?
5. ¿Sus sentimientos y su desarrollo emocional?
6. ¿Su respuesta para las interacciones familiares difíciles o desafiantes entre personas
en su familia?
192
7. Ayudarle eficazmente a enseñar a su hijo /adolescente acerca de su sistema de
valores (e.g., El código moral, el bien y el mal, etc.)?
8. La disciplina: ¿Elevando el comportamiento positivo de su hijo /adolescente y
reduciendo comportamientos negativos?
9. Como padre, ¿ que son sus preocupaciones o sus preocupaciones acerca de su
cultura en relación a criar su hijo mayor (e.g., Etnicidad, edad, posición financiera,
posición familiar-e.g., soltero, casado, legalmente comprometido, divorciado,
adoptivo, no tradicional)?
10. ¿Aparte de qué que usted ya ha discutido, qué más piensa usted sería importante
para usted aprender durante una clase de crianza de hijos?
11. De todos los asuntos discutidos, por favor clasifique los tres tópicos más
importantes que deberían estar en una clase de crianza de los hijos, en su opinión
(1) más importante, (2) segundo más importante, (3) tercer más importante:
_____ El Progreso Académico
_____ los comportamientos que les pueden causar daño emotivamente o
físicamente
_____ las interacciones sociales y las relaciones iguales
_____ la comunicación entre hijo y padre
_____ Hijo /adolescente el desarrollo emocional
_____ las interacciones familiares desafiantes
_____ enseñando a su hijo sus valores
_____ la disciplina: Mejorando el comportamiento positivo de su hijo y
disminuyendo
comportamientos negativos
_____ su cultura y criando a su hijo
_____ otro: _________________________________________
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
Parenting an oldest child at the edge of the parent’s practical knowledge and experiences may contribute to parenting insecurities about the quality of the parenting environment, leading parents to seek support in a parent education program. In the vast majority of parent education programs reviewed in the literature, very few assess or utilize parent self-perceptions of needs to drive program content. This survey research study identified parent needs of parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds using a qualitative approach. The participant sample included an ethnically and demographically diverse sample of 20 parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds from an urban community.
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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Keller, Michael James (author)
Core Title
Parent education needs assessment: parents of typical 14 to 17-year-olds
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Education (Leadership)
Publication Date
09/24/2009
Defense Date
09/02/2009
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
Adolescents,needs assessment,OAI-PMH Harvest,Parenting,typical adolescents,urban parenting
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Clark, Ginger (
committee chair
), Andres, Mary (
committee member
), Hirabayashi, Kimberly (
committee member
)
Creator Email
mjkeller@usc.edu,mkeller.lep@gmail.com
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m2614
Unique identifier
UC1205377
Identifier
etd-Keller-3245 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-256934 (legacy record id),usctheses-m2614 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
etd-Keller-3245.pdf
Dmrecord
256934
Document Type
Dissertation
Rights
Keller, Michael James
Type
texts
Source
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
Repository Name
Libraries, University of Southern California
Repository Location
Los Angeles, California
Repository Email
cisadmin@lib.usc.edu
Tags
needs assessment
typical adolescents
urban parenting