Does the Incredible Years reduce child externalizing problems through improved parenting? The role of child negative affectivity and serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region (<i>5-HTTLPR</i>) genotype

Weeland, Joyce; Chhangur, Rabia R.; Jaffee, Sara R.; Giessen, D. van der; Matthys, Walter; Castro, Bram Orobio de; Overbeek, Geertjan

doi:10.1017/s0954579417000499

Cited by 16 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Finally, do we expect change to occur in full already during the intervention, or do parents perhaps need more time to practice and implement the strategies and tips they learn and receive during the sessions? Our findings and those of others might suggest most change occurs already during the intervention and then sustains over time (Rimestad et al, 2017;Weeland et al, 2018).…”

Section: How It Work: Mediation By Parental Behavior and Parental Afsupporting

confidence: 79%

What changes when? A reply to Beauchaine and Slep

et al. 2018

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In their commentary, Beauchaine and Slep (2018) raise important issues regarding research on behavioral parenting training (BPT). In this reply we highlight key points of agreement and respond to issues that we feel require clarification. BPT has been repeatedly proven effective in decreasing disruptive child behavior (also in the work of our research team). Yet, there is much to learn about for whom and how BPT is effective. Specifically, assessing the how (i.e., mediation) comes with many challenges. One of these challenges is taking into account the timeline of change, and being able to infer causal mechanisms of change. We argue that cross-lagged panel models (which we, and many other scholars, used) are a valid and valuable method for testing mediation. At the same time, our results raise important questions, specifically about the timing and form of expected changes in parenting and child behavior after BPT. For example, are these changes linear and gradual or do they happen more suddenly? To select the appropriate design, assessment tools, and statistical models to test mediation, we need to state detailed hypotheses on what changes when. An important next step might be to assess multiple putative mediators on different timescales, not only before and after, but specifically also during BPT.

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Section: How It Work: Mediation By Parental Behavior and Parental Afsupporting

confidence: 79%

What changes when? A reply to Beauchaine and Slep

et al. 2018

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“…Although we do not have space to review these predictors and moderators in detail, it is notable that Weeland et al (2018) recruited a sample that (a) was high risk ( ! 75th percentile on externalizing behavior) and therefore less severe than participants in clinical intervention studies (often defined as !…”

Section: Heterogeneity In Effect Sizes For Iy Ptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a RCT, mediation can only be inferred when these conceptual criteria are met and appropriate statistical tests are executed. Weeland et al (2018) do not apply the Kraemer et al criteria, nor do they test, at least as their analyses are described, the mediating effects that they state they test. Weeland et al (2018) run 24 cross-lag panel models to test mediating effects of parenting on children's externalizing behavior.…”

Section: Mediation In Cross-lag Panel Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some of these studies (e.g., Beauchaine et al, 2005;Bell et al, 2018), effects of parenting change on child outcomes have been confirmed using stringent conceptual criteria for mediation (Kraemer, Wilson, Fairburn, & Agras, 2002) and/or modern statistical tests that assess direct and indirect (mediational) effects using bootstrap confidence intervals (Montoya & Hayes, 2016). Weeland et al (2018) reported no significant mediating effects of parenting change on observed improvements in children's externalizing behavior following intervention with IY, despite increases in positive parenting, decreases in negative parenting, and increases in parental positive affect. The authors offer potential third variable explanations for child behavior change, including decreased family and parent distress, improved quality of life, and increases in parenting self-efficacy, all of which are plausible.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Mechanisms of child behavior change in parent training: Comment on Weeland et al. (2018)

Beauchaine

2018

Dev Psychopathol

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Recently in this journal, Weeland et al. (2018) published a thought-provoking article reporting moderating effects of children's serotonin transporter-linked polymorphisms (5-HTTLPR) on negative parenting during prevention with the Incredible Years series. Participants were parents and young children of 387 families enrolled in the Observational Randomized Control Trial of Childhood Differential Susceptibility study. An equally important finding, which we focus on in this comment, involved null effects for all tests of parenting as a mediator of prevention-induced improvements in children's externalizing behavior. Although such findings may seem surprising, both confirmations of and failures to confirm parenting change as a mediator of child behavior change are common in the prevention and intervention literatures. In this comment, we explore likely reasons for heterogeneity in findings, including both moderators of treatment effect size and methods used to test mediation. Common moderators of prevention and intervention response to Incredible Years include dose, parenting problems at intake, high-risk versus clinical nature of samples, how parenting is measured, and whether child training is included with parent training. All of these moderators affect power to detect mediation. We then discuss conceptual criteria for testing mediation in randomized clinical trials, and problems with interpreting mediating paths in cross-lag panel models. Although the gene effect reported by Weeland et al. is important, their cross-lag panel models do not provide strong tests of parenting as a mediator of child behavior change. We conclude with recommendations for testing mediation in randomized clinical trials.

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“…Een andere uitdaging voor toekomstig onderzoek is het onderzoeken van de onderliggende mechanismen van de effecten van IY. Hoewel we in dit en een ander artikel ) beschrijven dat IY zowel een positieve verandering in het opvoedgedrag van de ouder (alsmede de geobserveerde emoties die hiermee gepaard gaan) als in het probleemgedrag van het kind teweegbrengt, vonden we geen bewijs dat de verandering in opvoedgedrag de verandering in het gedrag van het kind daadwerkelijk verklaard (zie voor een uitgebreide discussie Weeland et al 2018). Mogelijk is IY ook werkzaam via andere factoren, zoals vermindering van opvoedstress, verandering van attributies van ouders en vergroting van hun zelfvertrouwen (Feldman en Werner 2002;Mouton en Roskam 2015;Sawrikar en Dadds 2018).…”

Section: Beperkingen Van Het Onderzoekunclassified