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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.)

Caregivers play an integral role in supporting children's development, not only through their individual parenting practices but also how they work together as coparents. The literature on coparenting is extensive; however, most of the research has relied on global measures to assess the quality and functioning of the coparenting relationship. Examining the coparenting relationship with domain-specific measures enables a deeper understanding of this complex family process. One domain of particular interest is emotion socialization given the vast and long-term consequences emotion socialization has on children's emotional, social, behavioral, and psychological functioning. Emotion socialization literature would benefit from a domain-specific coparenting measure, as researchers have rarely explored how coparents work together when responding to their children's emotions (i.e., coparenting children's emotions). As such, an emotion-focused coparenting measure could address gaps in both coparenting and emotion socialization literature. This study outlines the development and psychometric evaluation of a domain-specific measure of coparenting, the Coparenting Children's Emotion Scale (CCES), which assesses how parents work together when responding to their children's emotions. In the current study, the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the CCES were examined in an Australian sample. Findings from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the CCES comprises two subscales that capture coparents' levels of support/cooperation and undermining. In the current sample, both CCES subscales demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency, and good convergent and concurrent validity. The CCES will provide researchers and practitioners with a domain-specific measure to use in exploratory and intervention research., (© 2024 The Author(s). Family Process published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Family Process Institute.)

Introduction: Developmental research suggests that children learn to regulate their emotions and behavior through a process of emotion socialization. The main body of literature is based on samples from the United States, and very little is known about the socialization of emotions in Nordic settings., Objectives: The current study aimed to explore associations between mothers' and fathers' reactions to children's negative emotions and externalizing behavior problems in a Nordic cultural context, and to explore gender differences in these associations., Methods: Parent-report data on the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES) and the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory 6 (ECBI) was collected in a large sample of Norwegian preschool-aged children (mothers, n = 242; fathers, n = 183; N = 257; M = 54 months, SD = 4.54; 49% boys). Teacher-report data was collected using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) conduct scale (n = 117)., Results: Both parents' supportive and non-supportive reactions were associated with child externalizing difficulties in expected directions as evidenced by path models, controlling for socioeconomic status and age. A pattern emerged in which non-supportive reactions to a greater extent predicted an increase in externalizing problems in girls, and supportive reactions predicted lower levels of externalizing problems in boys., Conclusion: Our findings supported the basic assumptions of emotion socialization theory in a Nordic cultural context in which parental supportive and non-supportive responses are related to child externalizing difficulties. Nordic parents are important socialization agents for their children, but their behaviors had a differential effect on boys' and girls' externalizing behavior problems., (© 2024 The Author(s). Scandinavian Journal of Psychology published by Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This study assessed the relationship between preschoolers' directly and indirectly assessed emotion word comprehension. Forty-nine two-to-five-year-old Norwegian children were assessed in a tablet-based 4-alternative forced choice (AFC) task on their comprehension of six basic and six complex emotions using facial expression photographs. Parents reported emotion word comprehension and production of the same words. Parent-reported emotion word production interacted with age to predict preschoolers' performance, with a parent-child alignment only observed for older children. Parent-reported word comprehension did not significantly predict accuracy. The results suggest that, in preschoolers, direct and indirect assessments might address distinct representational levels of emotion word comprehension.

The Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES) is a widely used measure of parent emotion socialization; however, it is a lengthy measure and it is unclear whether all items are appropriately aligned with, and fully capture, the underlying constructs. We aimed to examine content validity of the CCNES, evaluate the theoretical alignment between the CCNES and Gottman, Katz and Hooven's meta-emotion theory, and develop two short-forms. Participants were parents of children aged 4 to 10 years ( N = 937) from the longitudinal study the Child and Parent Emotion Study (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e038124). Content experts qualitatively evaluated parent-report items of the CCNES and additional items that measured empathy. Nineteen of the 84 items were found to not align with the meta-emotion theory. The latent structures of the CCNES and empathy subscales were quantitatively evaluated via confirmatory factor analysis. Items with poor psychometric properties were subsequently removed. An 18-item short-form (three emotion coaching subscales, three emotion dismissing subscales) and 6-item brief short-form (one emotion coaching subscale, one emotion dismissing subscale) with strong psychometric properties were created using a calibration sample ( n = 468, that is, 50% of N = 937) and cross-validated with a validation sample. The short-form CCNES measures provide viable, theoretically consistent alternatives to the original CCNES measure.

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.)

Parents can be essential change-agents in their children's lives. To support parents in their parenting role, a range of programs have been developed and evaluated. In this paper, we provide an overview of the evidence for the effectiveness of parenting interventions for parents and children across a range of outcomes, including child and adolescent mental and physical health, child and adolescent competencies and academic outcomes, parental skills and competencies, parental wellbeing and mental health, and prevention of child maltreatment and family violence. Although there is extensive research showing the effectiveness of evidence-based parenting programs, these are not yet widely available at a population level and many parents are unable to access support. We outline how to achieve increased reach of evidence-based parenting supports, highlighting the policy imperative to adequately support the use of these supports as a way to address high priority mental health, physical health, and social problems., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: Across all of Australia's states and territories, it is legal for a parent or carer to hit their child. In this paper, we outline the legal context for corporal punishment in Australia and the argument for its reform., Methods: We review the laws that allow corporal punishment, the international agreements on children's rights, the evidence on the effects of corporal punishment, and outcomes of legislative reform in countries that have changed their laws to prohibit corporal punishment., Results: Legislative reform typically precedes attitude changes and reductions in the use of corporal punishment. Countries with the most ideal outcomes have instigated public health campaigns educating the population about law reform while also providing access to alternative non-violent discipline strategies., Conclusions: Extensive evidence exists demonstrating the adverse effects of corporal punishment. When countries change legislation, educate the public about these effects, and provide alternative strategies for parents, rates of corporal punishment decrease., Implications for Public Health: We recommend law reform in Australia to prohibit corporal punishment, a public health campaign to increase awareness of corporal punishment and its effects, provision of access for parents to alternative evidence-based strategies to assist in parenting, and a national parenting survey to monitor outcomes., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: From January to June 2020, 22 FUS kindergartens across Norway implemented Tuning in to Kids for Kindergarten Teachers (TIK-KT) as part of a randomized control trial (RCT). Between the evaluation of an intervention and use of it in daily practice, a research-to-practice gap can often occur. The theory of planned behavior constituted the theoretical basis for the qualitative interviews that were administered to explore these gaps. This study aimed to explore motivation among kindergarten staff regarding the implementation of TIK-KT., Methods: Participants from the FUS kindergartens RCT were part of the current study. A stepwise deductive inductive strategy was used in the thematic content analysis. The data were from eleven semi-structured telephone interviews with kindergarten leaders and teachers. Codes from interviews before and after implementation were grouped based on thematic connections, and code groups were further combined into themes. The Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research were used as a reporting standard., Results: The interviews resulted in four main themes: (1) understanding the rationale of implementation, (2) "aha"-experiences, (3) the research-to-practice gap and (4) the main motivation. Kindergarten leaders and teachers expressed positive attitudes toward the intervention ideas and motivation to practice emotion coaching skills and toward implementing TIK-KT both before and after implementation., Conclusion: Kindergarten leaders' and teachers' motivation for implementation came from having a good understanding of the ideas of Tuning in to Kids for Kindergarten Teachers (TIK-KT), experiencing moments of "aha" regarding the intervention, not being held back by practical issues, and working toward their ultimate goal, the wellbeing of the children. These findings have implications for future implementation of TIK-KT and other mental health-promoting interventions and guide further areas of research to examine implementation mechanisms., Trial Registration: The study was registered with the Clinical Trials Registry (NCT03985124), June 13th, 2019., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background : Parenting interventions based on emotion socialization (ES) theory offer an important theoretically driven approach to improve children's emotional competence and behavioral functioning. Whether such approaches are effective in different cultural contexts, and whether the methods of delivery used are appropriate and acceptable, is an important empirical question. This paper reports on the preliminary evaluation of an ES parenting intervention, Tuning in to Kids (TIK), in Germany, Turkey, Iran, and China. Pilot studies of TIK have been conducted in each country with mothers of 4-6-year-old children. Method: The current study used qualitative methods with thematic analysis to explore the cultural appropriateness of the program in each site. Results: Culture-specific challenges were found across all sites in changing parents' beliefs about the value of encouraging children's emotional expression and supportive emotion discussions. Emotion literacy of parents depended on their access to emotion terms in their language, but also to parents' experiences with emotions in their family of origin and culture-related beliefs about emotions. Adaptations were required to slow the speed of delivery, to address issues of trust with parents in seeking help, and to provide more opportunities to practice the skills and integrate different beliefs about parenting. Conclusion : While this ES parenting intervention has been developed in a Western cultural context, slight adaptations to the delivery methods (rather than change to the content) appeared to contribute to cultural appropriateness. The next step will be to quantitatively evaluate these adaptations of TIK in the different countries using randomized controlled studies.

Objectives: Parenting is central to children's optimal development and accounts for a substantial proportion of the variance in child outcomes, including up to 40% of child mental health. Parenting is also one of the most modifiable, proximal, and direct factors for preventing and treating a range of children's problems and enhancing wellbeing. To determine the effectiveness of new approaches to parenting intervention, and to evaluate how to optimise reach and uptake, sufficient funding must be allocated for high quality research., Method: We reviewed funding awarded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC) for parenting intervention research during 2011-2020., Results: Parenting intervention research received 0.25% of the NHMRC and ARC research budgets., Conclusions: There is a substantial mismatch between the funding of parenting intervention research and the impact of improved parenting on short- and long-term child outcomes. To rectify this, it is critical that Australian Government funding schemes include parenting interventions as priority areas for funding., Implications for Public Health: Changes in allocation of funding to parenting research will support the establishment of evidence for the effective development, implementation and dissemination of parenting interventions to maximise health outcomes for children and their families., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD) is a rare and little researched developmental disorder characterised by regression in language and social skills after a period of seemingly normal development until at least the age of 2 years. The study contacted all parents of CDD patients in Norway to assess patient symptomatology and parents' experiences of regression via questionnaire or interview. There were 12 participants. Symptomatology was in-line with previous studies, with universal regression in language and social skills and onset predominantly at 2-4 years. Regression was connected to feelings of 'loss' and uncertainty over the prognosis for CDD patients. The study supported CDD diagnostic criteria and showed that CDD patient regression has profound implications for parental well-being., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Numerous studies have reported substantive correlations between anger socialization, children's anger regulation, and internalizing/externalizing problems. However, substantially less is known about the interplay among these constructs during the developmental stage of adolescence, and longitudinal studies on causal relations (i.e., parent-directed, adolescent-directed, or reciprocal effects) are rare. It is also unclear whether the development of internalizing and externalizing problems have similar causal relations. We collected three waves of longitudinal data (Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 9) from multiple informants. A sample of N = 634 adolescents (mostly 11-12 years at Time 1; 50.6% male) and their parents (predominantly Caucasian with German nationality) completed questionnaires assessing parents' responses to anger, adolescents' anger regulation, and adolescents' internalizing/externalizing problems at each wave. Comparisons of different cross-lagged models revealed reciprocal rather than unidirectional effects. However, we found more parent-directed effects with respect to the development of internalizing problems, whereas relations regarding externalizing problems were more adolescent-directed, i.e., adolescents' externalizing problems and their anger regulation predicted changes in their parents' responses to anger across time. Adolescent anger regulation was an important maintaining factor of parents' responses to anger in later adolescence. Our findings suggest that assumptions regarding bidirectional relations should be emphasized much more in emotion socialization frameworks, particularly for the period of adolescence. Moreover, our study emphasizes the transdiagnostic importance of parents' responses to anger for both externalizing and internalizing problems and also suggests different underlying mechanisms., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

This paper examines the efficacy of a universally-offered parenting program, Tuning in to Toddlers (TOTS), that aims to improve parent emotion socialization, reduce parent and toddler stress and improve social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in toddlers. Three hundred parents of an 18-36 month old toddler were cluster randomized into intervention or control. Parents in the intervention participated in 6 × 2 h group sessions of TOTS. Baseline and 12-months post-intervention measures were collected using parent-report questionnaires and hair samples from parents and toddlers of systemic cortisol stress. Compared to controls, intervention parents reported significantly greater reductions in difficulties in emotion regulation (difficulty remaining goal directed: 95% CI.10, 1.71, p = .028; lack of access to strategies: 95% CI 0.62, 2.42, p = .001), emotion dismissing (beliefs: 95% CI 2.33,4.82, p < .001; behaviors: 95% CI 0.32, 0.65, p = <.001), greater increase in empathy (95% CI -2.83, -1.50, p < .001), emotion coaching (beliefs: 95% CI -2.56, -0.27, p = .016; behaviors: 95% CI -0.58, -0.24, p = <.001), children's behavior (95% CI 0.19, 2.43, p = .022) and competence (95% CI -1.46, -0.22, p = .008). Significant greater reductions in systemic cortisol were found for intervention but not control children (95% CI 0.01, 0.35, p = .041). Findings provide preliminary support for the use of TOTS as a universal prevention program to improve parent emotion socialization and children's functioning. Trial Registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12615000962538., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study evaluated the Tuning in to Kids (TIK) parenting program delivered in a clinical setting with 77 parents and caregivers (hereafter referred to as "parents") of children who had experienced complex trauma. The TIK program targets parent emotion socialization to improve children's emotional and behavioral functioning. The study utilized a single-group design with pre- and post-intervention measures. Seventy-seven parents of children (aged 3-15 years) who had experienced complex trauma completed a ten-week version of the Trauma-Focused Tuning in to Kids program (TF-TIK). Measures examined parent reports of: emotion socialization; parent-child relationship; parent mental health; children's emotional and behavioral functioning. Parents reported significantly improved emotion socialization, parent-child relationship, parent mental health, as well as child emotion regulation and behavior. This study provides initial support for the use of the TF-TIK parenting program in a clinical setting with parents of children who have experienced complex trauma in order to prevent or reduce problems.

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.)

More than two decades of research have shown that parental emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) significantly predict child emotion understanding and externalizing behavior problems. This study aimed to replicate these findings in a sample of 40 Norwegian preschool children and to test whether the effect of parental ERSBs on externalizing child behavior problems was mediated through child emotion understanding. Parental report on ERSBs was obtained using the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES) questionnaire. Child emotion understanding was assessed directly using the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC). The results showed that parental distress reactions and externalizing child behavior problems were significantly correlated and that parental expressive encouragement was significantly correlated with child emotion understanding. Estimation of indirect effects was conducted using process analysis and showed that parental expressive encouragement was indirectly related to externalizing child behavior problems (b = -0.17) via child emotion understanding. The results suggest that better child emotion understanding, and lower parental distress are related to lower levels of behavior problems in preschool children. These findings provide support for the Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy (PMEP) model, where the effect of parental emotion socialization on externalizing child behavior problems is mediated through emotion understanding., (© 2020 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology published by Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

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.

In recent years emotion socialization theory (Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998) has begun to be used in parenting interventions, allowing an important and effective method for testing the theory. The current study is one such example, and examined moderators of program effects and mechanisms of change in an emotion-focused group parenting program, Tuning in to Teens (TINT), to determine whether an intervention with this theoretical approach would be effective in improving adolescent internalizing difficulties. Schools were randomized into intervention and control conditions. Data was collected from 225 parents and 224 youth during the young person's final year of elementary school (6th grade) and again, 10 months later in their first year of secondary school (7th grade). Those in the intervention condition received a 6-session program targeting parent emotion awareness/regulation, parental beliefs about emotion and parents' emotion coaching skills. Multilevel analyses were conducted to examine moderators of the intervention and regression analyses were conducted to examine mediators of program effects. Results showed greater benefits for intervention subgroups with high preintervention scores on youth anxiety. Parental internalizing difficulties and parental difficulties in emotion awareness/regulation did not moderate program effects. Mediation analyses supported emotion socialization theory and showed parents' who participated in the TINT parenting program reported improvements in their own awareness/regulation and emotion socialization, which were, in turn, related to reductions in youth internalizing difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

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.

For parents who have experienced childhood interpersonal trauma, the challenges of parenting an adolescent may trigger memories of abuse, intensifying conflict, resulting in negative cycles of relating and poorer responsiveness to emotions when parenting. This study examined whether Tuning Relationships with Music, a dyadic therapy for parents and adolescents, increased responsive parent-adolescent interactions and parent emotion coaching whilst reducing conflict and adolescent mental health difficulties. Twenty-six parent-adolescent dyads were recruited if parents had a trauma history and the dyad were currently having high levels of conflict. Dyads were randomly allocated into intervention or wait-list control and completed questionnaires and observation assessments at baseline and 4-month post-baseline follow-up. Those allocated to the intervention condition participated in 8 sessions of Tuning Relationships with Music., Trial Registration: ANZCTR: 12615000814572. Parents and adolescents reported significant reductions in conflict. Parents in the intervention condition were observed to significantly improve their nonverbal communication, emotional responsiveness and non-reactivity toward their adolescent. Although parents reported they were less dismissive and punitive, and more encouraging of their adolescent's emotions, and both parents and adolescents reported improvements in the adolescent's mental health, these were not statistically significant. Findings suggest Tuning Relationships with Music may assist parents with a history of childhood interpersonal trauma and their adolescent to reduce conflict and increase responsive ways of relating that may positively impact the young person's mental health. Future trials with a larger sample are warranted., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a multisystemic early intervention that included a comparison of an emotion- and behavior-focused parenting program for children with emerging conduct problems. The processes that moderated positive child outcomes were also explored. A repeated measures cluster randomized group design methodology was employed with three conditions (Tuning in to Kids, Positive Parenting Program, and waitlist control) and two periods (preintervention and 6-month follow-up). The sample consisted of 320 predominantly Caucasian 4- to 9-year-old children who were screened for disruptive behavior problems. Three outcome measures of child conduct problems were evaluated using a parent (Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory) and teacher (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) rating scale and a structured child interview (Home Interview With Child). Six moderators were assessed using family demographic information and a parent-rated measure of psychological well-being (Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales short form). The results indicated that the multisystemic intervention was effective compared to a control group and that, despite different theoretical orientations, the emotion- and behavior-focused parenting programs were equally effective in reducing child conduct problems. Child age and parent psychological well-being moderated intervention response. This effectiveness trial supports the use of either emotion- or behavior-focused parenting programs in a multisystemic early intervention and provides greater choice for practitioners in the selection of specific programs.

Parent emotion socialization plays an important role in shaping emotional and behavioral development during adolescence. The Tuning in to Teens (TINT) program aims to improve parents' responses to young people's emotions with a focus on teaching emotion coaching. This study examined the efficacy of the TINT program in improving emotion socialization practices in parents and whether this reduced family conflict and youth externalizing difficulties. Schools were randomized into intervention and control conditions and 225 primary caregiving parents and 224 youth took part in the study. Self-report data was collected from parents and youth during the young person's final year of elementary school and again in their first year of secondary school. Multilevel analyses showed significant improvements in parent's impulse control difficulties and emotion socialization, as well as significant reductions in family conflict and youth externalizing difficulties. This study provides support for the TINT program in reducing youth externalizing behavior problems., (Copyright © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper evaluates the real-world effectiveness of an emotion-focused, multi-systemic early intervention combining an emotion socialization parenting program with a child and school socio-emotional intervention for children with emerging conduct problems. Schools in lower socioeconomic areas of Victoria, Australia were randomized into intervention or wait-list control. Children in the first 4 years of elementary school were screened for behavior problems and those in the top 8 % of severity were invited to participate in the intervention. The study sample consisted of 204 primary caregivers and their children (Mage = 7.05, SD = 1.06; 74 % boys). Data were collected at baseline and 10 months later using parent and teacher reports and direct child assessment. Measures of parent emotion socialization, family emotion expressiveness, and children's emotion competence, social competence and behavior were administered. Results showed intervention parents but not controls became less emotionally dismissive and increased in empathy, and children showed better emotion understanding and behavior compared to control children. These outcomes lend support for an emotion-focused approach to early intervention in a real-world context for children with conduct problems.

This study evaluated a 6-session group parenting program, Tuning into Kids (TIK), as treatment for young children (aged 4.0-5.11 years) with behavior problems. TIK targets parent emotion socialization (parent emotion awareness, regulation and emotion coaching skills). Fifty-four parents, recruited via a child behavior clinic, were randomized into intervention (TIK) or waitlist (clinical treatment as usual). Parents reported emotion awareness/regulation, emotion coaching, empathy and child behavior (pre-intervention, post-intervention, 6-month follow-up); teachers reported child behavior and observers rated parent-child emotion coaching and child emotion knowledge (pre-intervention, follow-up). Data were analyzed using growth curve modeling and ANCOVA. Parents in both conditions reported less emotional dismissiveness and reduced child behavior problems; in the intervention group, parents also reported greater empathy and had improved observed emotion coaching skills; their children had greater emotion knowledge and reduced teacher-reported behavior problems. TIK appears to be a promising addition to treatment for child behavior problems.

The goal of this study was to examine the impact of different parenting characteristics on child disruptive behavior and emotional regulation among a sample of at-risk children. The sample consisted of 373 Australian 5- to 9-year-old children who were screened for serious behavior problems. Seven parenting variables based on self-report were evaluated, involving parenting practices, emotion beliefs and behaviors, emotion expressiveness, and mental health. Outcome variables based on parent/teacher report were child disruptive behavior problems and emotion regulatory ability. When entered simultaneously in a multiple regression analysis, inconsistent discipline, negative parental emotional expressiveness, and parent mental health demonstrated the strongest relationship to disruptive behavior problems and problems with emotion regulation. The data presented here elucidate multiple risk pathways to disruptive behavior disorders and can inform the design of prevention and early intervention programs.

This article reports on an effectiveness trial of the Tuning in to Kids (TIK) parenting program. TIK aims to improve emotion socialization practices in parents of preschool children; it is a universal prevention program that teaches parents the skills of emotion coaching and also targets parents' own emotion awareness and regulation. The present study followed a 2 × 2 (Treatment Condition × Time) design. One hundred twenty-eight parents of children ages 4.0-5.11 years were recruited from preschools and randomized into intervention and waitlist conditions. Parents in the intervention condition (n = 62) attended a six-session group parenting program delivered by community practitioners who followed intervention fidelity protocols. Parents and preschool teachers completed questionnaires twice during the preschool year: at preintervention and at follow-up (approximately 7 months later). Parents reported on their emotion socialization beliefs and practices, other parenting practices, and on child behavior. Teachers reported on child behavior (Social Competence and Anger-Aggression). Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. At follow-up, compared to the control group, intervention parents were significantly less emotionally dismissive in their beliefs, less dismissive and more coaching in their practices in response to children's negative emotions, and more positively involved. Although there were improvements in both conditions over time for parent-reported child behavior and teacher-reported social competence, compared to the waitlist group, intervention parents reported a significantly greater reduction in number of behavior problems. This trial demonstrates the potential for community agencies and practitioners in real-world settings to deliver a new parenting program that targets emotional communication in parent-child relationships.

This article outlines a systematic approach to the formulation of clinical problems for practitioners working with children and their families. Whilst assessments in child and adolescent mental health often use a range of theoretical and practical approaches for data collection, there are relatively few resources to assist the clinician in integrating this information to develop a formulation that leads to a well considered intervention plan. The formulation approach presented here was designed to assist in training child and adolescent clinicians in a method that facilitates the process of understanding complex cases. This is done by examining the patterns of strength and difficulty identified during an assessment and systematically providing an explanation for these using ;the Four Ps' - predisposing, precipitating, perpetuating, and protective factors - to structure the clinician's thinking. Interventions that address patterns of strength and difficulty for each of the ;Four Ps' are recommended when working with complex clients. This formulation approach may take more time than merely summarizing the case, but the benefits are a more comprehensive understanding of the client. This means that problems often associated with working with complex cases can be identified and addressed, reducing the risk of drop out, poor engagement or treatment failure.