Less is More: Emotion Regulation Deficits in Military Fathers Magnify their Benefit from a Parenting Program
2018-05
Loading...
View/Download File
Persistent link to this item
Statistics
View StatisticsJournal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Title
Less is More: Emotion Regulation Deficits in Military Fathers Magnify their Benefit from a Parenting Program
Authors
Published Date
2018-05
Publisher
Type
Thesis or Dissertation
Abstract
Combat deployment and exposure to traumatic events may cause deficits in emotion regulation, thus impairing military parents’ capacities to respond effectively to children’s emotions. This is a particularly salient issue for fathers – who comprise the majority of service members – following deployment to war. Evidence-based parenting programs have been developed to improve parenting practices in military families, however, little is known about the role of parents’ emotion regulation on the effectiveness of the parenting program. Using data from a randomized controlled trial, this study examines the effects of the After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) program, on observed emotion socialization related parenting behaviors (ESRBs), and whether self-reported emotion regulation of service member fathers affects program outcomes. This study used a subset of data from the ADAPT study, which included 181 fathers (M age = 37.76, SD = 6.42) in 2parent families who had been deployed to recent conflicts and who had at least one 4-12-year-old child living in the home. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the intent-to-treat effect of the ADAPT program on observed effective parenting 1 year post-baseline, the moderating effect of self-reported emotion dysregulation at baseline, and the mediating role of emotion dysregulation at baseline at 1-year post-baseline. Results showed that the intervention did not directly improve fathers’ observed ESRBs relative to the control group. However, the intervention did significantly reduce observed reactivity/coercion and distress avoidance among fathers with .5 SD above average self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation at baseline. Moreover, fathers’ emotion regulation difficulties at 1 year were found to mediate the intervention effect on observed reactivity/coercion, which was strengthened by higher levels of baseline emotion regulation difficulties. Implications for personalized parenting interventions are described.
Description
University of Minnesota M.A. thesis.May 2018. Major: Family Social Science. Advisor: Abigail Gewirtz. 1 computer file (PDF); vii, 34 pages.
Related to
Replaces
License
Series/Report Number
Funding information
Isbn identifier
Doi identifier
Previously Published Citation
Suggested citation
Zhang, Jingchen. (2018). Less is More: Emotion Regulation Deficits in Military Fathers Magnify their Benefit from a Parenting Program. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/200111.
Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.