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Background: Evidence-based parenting programs delivered using online technology are an important way to enhance program uptake. To date, programs that address emotion socialization processes, such as Tuning in to Kids , have always been delivered in person, via group or one-to-one delivery. This study used a randomized control design to examine the efficacy of the self-paced Tuning in to Kids OnLine (TIKOL) ., Method: Participants were 150 parents of children aged 4-10 years old with challenging behaviors, randomized into intervention or 10-month waitlist control. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires at baseline and 6 months after the intervention (equivalent time points for controls) measuring parent wellbeing, parent emotion socialization, parent efficacy, child behavior, and anxiety., Results: Analyses, using mixed methods multilevel modeling, showed that intervention parents reported significantly reduced emotion dismissiveness and increased emotion coaching, empathy and efficacy compared to controls who did not. Parents participating in TIKOL also reported that their children's behavior problems and anxiety were significantly improved. Greater engagement (modules watched and duration of support calls) was associated with more significant improvements., Conclusion: Findings provide preliminary support for the efficacy of TIKOL in improving parents' emotion socialization and reducing child behavior problems and anxiety, especially when efforts to support online engagement are utilized. Further evaluation using independent observations and a sample representing a wider demographic would strengthen these findings., Clinical Trial Registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry No. ACTRN12618000310268., Competing Interests: SH and AHa wish to declare a conflict of interest in that they may benefit from positive reports of the TIKOL program. Proceeds from dissemination of the program provide funding for development and research. Program authors and the University of Melbourne receive royalties from program sales. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Havighurst, Mangelsdorf, Boswell, Little, Zhang, Gleeson, Hussain, Harley, Radovini and Kehoe.)

Introduction: Seminal emotion socialization theories classify parents according to two patterns of parent emotion socialization processes: 'emotion coaching' (i.e., parents validate and teach children about emotions) versus 'emotion dismissing' parenting (i.e., parents minimize and dismiss their children's emotions). However, empirical evidence supporting this binary distinction of parents remains limited. Our objective was to investigate whether parents can be differentiated by distinct patterns in their (1) beliefs about children's emotions, (2) emotion regulation, and (3) emotion-related parenting practices., Method: Participants were parents of children aged 4-10 years from the Child and Parent Emotion Study ( N  = 869) (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e038124). Parents completed self-reported measures of emotion socialization processes via an online survey, which took 20-30 min to complete. Data included in the current study were collected May-August 2019. We conducted a latent profile analysis of parents' emotion socialization (13 indicators). To assess reliability of the profiles, we examined stability of the profiles across (1) parents of children in early versus middle childhood, and (2) fathers versus mothers, via measurement invariance testing. Further, to assess for construct validity of the profiles, we examined concurrent associations between six criterion constructs and parents' emotion socialization profiles., Results: A three-profile model emerged characterizing parents by: (1) emotion coaching; (2) emotion dismissing; (3) emotion disengaged. There was strong support for construct validity and reliability., Discussion: Our study provides empirical support for distinct differentiated classifications of emotion coaching and emotion dismissing parenting, aligned with emotion socialization theories. We further extend on extant theory and suggest a third 'emotion disengaged' classification, describing parents with moderate levels of emotion dismissing parenting and low levels of emotion coaching parenting. It should be noted that the profiles were derived with self-report data, therefore, data may have been biased by contextual factors. Furthermore, the study sample consisted of Western families from affluent backgrounds. The field should focus efforts on conducting person-centered studies with more diverse samples in future., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 King, Macdonald, Greenwood, Kehoe, Dunsmore, Havighurst, Youssef, Berkowitz and Westrupp.)

Adequate emotion regulation in children is crucial for healthy development and is influenced by parent emotion socialization. The current pilot study aimed to test, for the first time in a Scandinavian population, whether an emotion-focused intervention, Tuning in to Kids (TIK), had positive effects on parent emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs), and children's self-regulation, anxiety, and externalizing behavior problems. We conducted a controlled trial of the 6-week evidence-based TIK parenting program with 20 parents of preschool children aged 5-6 years and 19 wait-list controls. Assessments at baseline and 6 months after the intervention included parent-report questionnaires on parent ERSBs and child adjustment, as well as aspects of children's self-regulation assessed with two behavioral tasks, the Emotional Go/No-Go task (EGNG) and the AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT). Results showed a significant increase in reported parent emotion coaching behavior and an uncorrected significant decrease in parents' report of child externalizing problems in intervention participants compared to controls. The behavioral data showed an uncorrected significant improvement in child emotion discrimination in the control condition compared to the intervention condition, while measures of children's executive control improved from baseline to follow-up for both conditions but were not significantly different between conditions. These findings suggest that this emotion-focused parenting intervention contributed to improvement in parents' emotion coaching and their appraisal of child externalizing problems, while children's self-regulation showed mainly normative developmental improvements. Further research with a larger sample will be the next step to determine if these pilot findings are seen in an adequately powered study., Competing Interests: SH wishes to declare a conflict of interest in that she may benefit from positive reports of the Tuning in to Kids program. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Bølstad, Havighurst, Tamnes, Nygaard, Bjørk, Stavrinou and Espeseth.)

Background: Parenting a toddler is a challenging experience for many parents with times of emotional dysregulation in both parent and child. Parenting interventions may be useful for parents to improve their ability to regulate emotions and respond to children's emotions in a way that assists the child to understand and regulate emotions (emotion competence). Tuning in to Toddlers (TOTS) is a new parenting program that aims to improve parents' emotion regulation, emotional responsiveness, and emotion coaching (aspects of emotion socialization) to promote optimal emotional development in toddlers, and prevent social and behavioral difficulties. This paper outlines the rationale, methodology, intervention, and recruitment used in a trial to establish program efficacy. Methods/Design: Parents of toddlers aged 18-36 months old were recruited through child care centers (CC) and maternal child health (MCH) centers in Melbourne, Australia and were allocated to either intervention or a 15-month wait-list control condition in a cluster-randomized controlled design. Inclusion criteria were a child in the age range at baseline attending one of the CC or MCH centers. Exclusion criteria were if the parent/carer had insufficient English to attend the intervention and complete measures. Parents in the intervention condition participated in the 6-session group TOTS program delivered by two facilitators using a structured manual and measures of program fidelity and acceptability. Participants in the wait-list control condition received the intervention after a 15-month waiting period. Participants completed measures at baseline, post-intervention (intervention participants only) and 15-month follow-up. Primary outcome measures included parent emotion socialization (parent-report and observed). Secondary outcomes included parent-reported parent functioning (emotion regulation and mental health), toddler social, emotional and behavioral functioning, and parent and toddler systemic cortisol stress (using hair samples). The study was designed to comply with the CONSORT statement and intervention reporting outlined using TIDieR. Results: Three hundred and six parents were recruited and completed baseline parent questionnaires, with a further 234 completing parent-child observation assessments, 235 parent cortisol, and 198 child cortisol. Discussion: This paper is a methodological description of the TOTS randomized controlled trial evaluation protocol. It outlines some of the challenges in recruiting parents of toddlers to parenting programs. Clinical Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier ACTRN12615000 962538.