Salta al menu principale di navigazione Salta al contenuto principale Salta al piè di pagina del sito
FrancoAngeli Journals

Sez. generale - Studi e ricerche

N. 46 (2020)

Training parents to adolescents’ challenges: The CONNECT parent program

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/qpc46-2020oa10160
Inviata
20 luglio 2020
Pubblicato
20-07-2020

Abstract

Adolescents’ challenges could be effectively addressed by treating their parents. Prior evaluations of CONNECT, an attachment-based program intervention for parents of adolescents at risk, indicated that improving parenting skills and the quality of parent-adolescent relationship may result in decrease of adolescents’ behavioural problems.
The present study is part of a longitudinal research involving three Italian centres (Pavia, Milan, Pisa) aimed at investigating whether helping parents reduce their reliance on coercive or unproductive parenting strategies and understand changes occurring during adolescence from an attachment-based perspective would reduce their adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing symptoms. One-hundred and eighteen parents of adolescents (Mage = 15.26 years, SD = 1.49; 64% boys), randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 66) or to the wait-list control group (n = 52), reported on their perceptions of their adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing symptoms (using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire-parent version; Goodman, 1997), as well as attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety (using the Adolescent Attachment Anxiety & Avoidance Inventory; Moretti and Obsuth, 2009) prior to
treatment (t0), within a two-week period following the final treatment session (t1) and at a four months follow-up (t2). Parents attending the CONNECT program reported significant reductions in their adolescents’ externalizing symptoms, and slightly significant reductions in their adolescents’ internalizing symptoms by a reduction of anxiety and avoidance attachment strategies.

The findings add evidence to the importance of investigating mechanisms of change underlying the effectiveness of CONNECT program, providing further indications on its application in therapeutic contexts.

Riferimenti bibliografici

  1. Barone L., Carone N. Changes in attachment avoidance reduce adolescents externalizing symptoms: The effectiveness of CONNECT in Italy. Pre-conference meeting at IX International Attachment Conference, Vancouver, Canada.
  2. Dahl R.E., Allen N.B., Wilbrecht L., Ballonoff Suleiman A. (2018). Importance of investing in adolescence from a developmental science perspective. Nature Perspective, 554: 441-450. doi: 10.1038/nature25770.
  3. Ewing E.S.K., Diamond G., Levy S. (2015). Attachment-based family therapy for depressed and suicidal adolescents: theory, clinical model and empirical support. Attachment & Human Development, 17: 136-156. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2015.1006384.
  4. Ewing E.S.K., Levy S., Scott S.A., Diamond G.S. (2018). Attachment-based family therapy for adolescent depression and suicide risk. In: Steele H., Steele M. (eds.), Handbook of attachment-based interventions. New York: Guilford Press.
  5. Farrell A.D., Henry D.B., Mays S.A., Shoeny M.E. (2011). Parents as moderators of the impact of school norms and peer influences on aggression in middle school students. Child Development, 82: 146-161. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01546.x.
  6. Fonagy P., Steele M., Steele H., Moran G.S., Higgitt A.C. (1991). The capacity for understanding mental states: The reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 12: 201-218. doi: 10.1002/1097-0355(199123)12:3<201::Aid-Imhj2280120307>3.0. Co;2-7.
  7. Giannotta F., Ortega E., Stattin H. (2013). An attachment parenting intervention to prevent adolescents? Problem behaviors: A pilot study in Italy. Child & Youth Care Forum, 42: 71-85. doi: 10.1007/s10566-012-9189-3.
  8. Goodman A., Lamping D.L., Ploubidis G.B. (2010). When to use broader internalising and externalising subscales instead of the hypothesised five subscales on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): data from British parents, teachers and children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38: 1179-1191. doi: 10.1007/s10802-010-9434-x.
  9. Goodman R. (1997). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 38: 581-586. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01545.x.
  10. Goulter N., Moretti M.M., del Casal J.M., Dietterle P. (2019). Attachment insecurity account for the relationship between maternal and paternal maltreatment and adolescent health. Child Abuse & Neglect, 96. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104090.
  11. Hö gströ m J., Olofsson V., Ö zdemir M., Enebrink P., Stattin H. (2017). Two-year findings from a national effectiveness trial: Effectiveness of behavioral and nonbehavioral parenting programs. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 45: 527-542. doi: 10.1007/s10802-016-0178-0.
  12. Kobak R., Zajac K., Herres J., Ewing E.S.K. (2015). Attachment based treatments for adolescents: The secure cycle as a framework for assessment, treatment and evaluation. Attachment & Human Development, 17: 220-239. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2015.1006388.
  13. Lansford J.E., Rothenberg W.A., Jensen T.M., Lippold M.A., Bacchini D., Bornstein M.H., Malone P.S. (2018). Bidirectional relations between parenting and behavior problems from age 8 to 13 in nine countries. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 28: 571-590. doi: 10.1111/jora.12381.
  14. Ledford H. (2018). The shifting boundaries of adolescence. Adolescence: A Nature Special Issue, 554: 429-431.
  15. Medlow S., Klineberg E., Jarret C., Steinbeck K. (2016). A systematic review of community-based parenting interventions for adolescents with challenging behaviours. Journal of Adolescence, 52: 60-71. doi: 10.1016/J.ADOLESCENCE.2016.07.003.
  16. Moretti M.M., Braber K., Obsuth I. (2009). CONNECT: An attachment focused treatment group for parents and caregivers – A principle based manual. Adolescent Version. Burnaby, BC: Simon Fraser University.
  17. Moretti M.M., Obsuth I. (2009). Effectiveness of an attachment-focused manualized intervention for parents and teens at risk for aggressive behaviors: The CONNECT program. Journal of Adolescence, 32: 1347-1357. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.07.013.
  18. Moretti M.M., Obsuth I., Craig S.G., Bartolo T. (2015). An attachment-based intervention for parents of adolescents at risk: Mechanisms of change. Attachment & Human Development, 17: 119-135. doi: 10.1080/14616734. 2015.1006383.
  19. Moretti M.M., Obsuth I., Mayseless O., Scharf M. (2012). Shifting internal parentchild representations among caregivers of teens with serious behavior problems: An attachment-based approach. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 5: 191-204. doi: 10.1080/19361521.2012.697104.
  20. Moretti M.M., Pasalich D.S., O’Donnel K.A. (2018). CONNECT: An attachmentbased program for parents of teens. In Steele H., Steele M. (eds.), Handbook of attachment-based interventions. New York: Guilford Press.
  21. Moretti M.M., Peled M. (2004). Adolescent-parent attachment: Bonds that support healthy development. Paediatrics and Child Health, 9: 551-55. doi: 1093/pch/9.8.551.
  22. Morris A.S., Criss M.M., Silk J.S., Houltberg B.J. (2017). The impact of parenting on emotion regulation during childhood and adolescence. Child Development Perspectives, 11: 233-238.
  23. Olofsson V., Skoog T.,Tillfors M. (2016). Implementing group based parenting programs: A narrative review. Children and Youth Services Review, 69: 67-81. doi: 10.1016/J.CHILDYOUTH.2016.07.004.
  24. Osman F., Flacking R., Schö n U.K., Klingberg-Allvin M. (2017). A support program for Somali-born parents on children’s behavioral problems. Pediatrics, 139: e20162764. doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-2764.
  25. Ozturk Y., Moretti M.M., Barone L. (2019). Addressing parental stress and adolescents’ behavioral problems through an attachment-based program: An intervention study. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 19: 89-100.
  26. Pilgrim C.C., Schulenberg J.E., O’ Malley P.M., Bachman J.G., Johnson L.D. (2006). Mediators and Moderators of Parental Involvement on Substance Use: A National Study of Adolescents. Prevention Science. 10: 1-15. doi: 10.1007/s11121-005-0019-9.
  27. Rescorla L., Achenbach T., Ivanova M.Y., Levent D., Almqvist F., Bilenberg N., Erol N. (2007). Behavioral and emotional problems reported by parents of children ages 6 to 16 in 31 societies. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 15: 130-142. doi: 10.1177/10634266070150030101.
  28. Rossouw T. (2018). Mentalization-based therapy for adolescents: Managing storms in youth presenting with self-harm and suicidal states. In: Steele H., Steele M., (eds.), Handbook of Attachment-Based Interventions. New York: Guilford Press.
  29. Sawyer S.M., Azzopardi P.S., Wickremathne D., Patton G.C. (2018). The age of adolescence. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 2: 223-228. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(18)30022-1.
  30. Whittle S., Vijayakumar N., Dennison M., Schwartz O., Simmons J.G., Sheeber L., Allen N.B. (2016). Observed measures of negative parenting predict brain development during adolescence. PLoS ONE, 11: e0147774. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147774.
  31. Yap M.B.H., Morgan A.J., Cairns K., Jorm A.F., Hetrick S.E., Merry S. (2016). Parents in prevention: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of parenting interventions to prevent internalizing problems in children from birth to age 18. Clinical Psychology Review, 50: 138-158. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2016.10.003.

Metriche

Caricamento metriche ...