Lower quality parenting has been shown to influence the development and maintenance of various child emotional, behavioural and physical health problems. Parenting interventions aim to promote...Show moreLower quality parenting has been shown to influence the development and maintenance of various child emotional, behavioural and physical health problems. Parenting interventions aim to promote positive parenting behaviours through education and practice, in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of negative child outcomes. It has been suggested that various family, child, and sociodemographic risk factors (such as low socioeconomic status) can impact how successful a parenting intervention is. However, there is little research into how intervention techniques can be adapted to these various risk groups. This study examined two hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that the at-risk group would receive Behaviour Change Techniques (BCTs) on the social-emotional domain more often than the non-risk group. The second hypothesis was that use of the BCTs on the social-emotional domain would lead to a more significant positive change in parenting behaviour when applied to the at-risk group, as opposed to when they were applied to the non-risk group. Data extraction was conducted on 70 studies providing a parenting intervention, and information such as BCTs used, risk of bias, and group condition (risk vs non-risk) was collected. The first hypothesis was examined using a chi-square test of independence and found no significant associations between the BCTs in the social-emotional domain and group condition. A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the moderator variables of the second hypothesis. The analyses found no moderator effect for the type of group on any BCTs in the social-emotional domain and parental behaviour outcomes. The implications of these results suggest that currently the techniques used in parenting interventions are not being adapted to various groups. In addition, more in-depth research is needed, particularly with a focus on defining the at-risk group more precisely.Show less
