Emotion-focused parenting interventions for prevention and treatment of child and adolescent mental health problems: a review of recent literature

Abstract

Purpose of review To review recent studies on emotion-focused parenting interventions to provide clinicians with knowledge about how these approaches might be used in prevention and treatment of mental health difficulties for children, adolescents and their families. Recent findings A number of emotion-focused parent interventions are reported in the literature, including emotion coaching/communication parenting programs, emotion-focused family therapy, attachment-focused parenting interventions (including those that address parental reflective functioning/mentalization), mindfulness parenting programs and behavioral programs with added emotion components. All target emotions or emotional communication to assist parents and children understand and work through emotional experiences so they are less likely to impede healthy functioning. These interventions target four main domains: exploring family of origin or early attachment/relational experiences with emotion, targeting parents’ own emotion awareness and regulation, shifting parents responses to or communication with their children when emotions occur, and promoting parents’ skills for assisting children to regulate emotions and behavior. This review from the last 18 months found 50 studies that evaluated programs addressing these domains. Summary Whilst the dominant approach in evidence-based parenting programs has been teaching behavioral strategies, it has been recognized that a focus on emotion-related processes is important. This is especially when working to improve the attachment relationship or when parents and children experience emotion dysregulation. This review demonstrates extensive evidence to support emotion-focused parenting interventions.

The Predictive Effect of Parental Adult Attachment on Parent–Adolescent Attachment: The Mediating Role of Harsh Parenting

“…Meanwhile, anxious parents are likely to overreact to their teenager's needs and, thus, interfere with the normal needs of teenagers; similarly, this can easily lead to dissatisfaction between parents and teenagers and increase the possibility of harsh parenting (Adam et al, 2004 ; Selcuk et al, 2010 ). Harsh parenting pollutes benign interactions between teenagers and their parents by normalizing a lack of warmth and support, destroying any safe foundations in the relationship, and eroding the quality of the attachment (Wang et al, 2019 , 2020 ; Havighurst et al, 2020 ).…”

A Pilot Study of a Parent Emotion Socialization Intervention: Impact on Parent Behavior, Child Self-Regulation, and Adjustment

“…Parenting programs that teach emotion coaching are emerging in the evidence-based literature (Eisenberg, 2020;Havighurst et al, 2020). These teach parents' skills in noticing children's emotions, helping children understand their emotions and regulate them, assist parents to regulate their own emotions and set limits around children's behavior.…”

“…In the last two decades, studies evaluating emotion coaching interventions have been found effective in increasing children's emotional competence (see i.e., England-Mason and Gonzalez, 2020;Havighurst et al, 2020, for reviews). To directly measure child outcomes, studies have used assessment of emotion understanding, typically using Denham's (1986) puppet task, also referred to as the Affective Knowledge Test, the Emotion Skills Task, or the puppet interview (see Denham et al, 2015, for a review).…”

Tuning in to Kids: Clinical Case Studies from One-to-One Delivery

“…Conversely, emotion-focused approaches view parenting factors such as poor Parental Reflective Functioning (PRF) capabilities (parent's difficulties with reflecting on the internal states of themselves and their children), poor emotion regulation, and nonsupportive emotion socialization practices (parent's dismissive, punitive, or permissive responses to their child's emotional expression) as key contributors to the development of children's behavior problems (Camoirano, 2017;England-Mason & Gonzalez, 2020). Interventions that target these aspects of parenting have led to improvements in emotion-related parenting, parent-child connection, parent and child emotional competence, and child behavior problems (Havighurst et al, 2020). When parents are guided in their ability to self-soothe and reflect on their own and their child's internal states, they can respond supportively to their child's emotional expression.…”