Parenting and the development and prevention of child mental health problems

The government is recognizing the need to deal with the growing numbers of antisocial young people through investing in early preventive parenting support. It is important that the services provided are evidence-based and delivered effectively. This review briefly discusses the contribution of parenting to the development of child mental health difficulties, particularly externalizing problems, and reviews some effective early intervention preventive programmes.

Over 30 years of research have established both that parenting behaviours influence the development of childhood conduct disorders and that behavioural family interventions targeting specific parenting skills are the most effective way of preventing or reducing child behaviour problems. Until recently, however, those children at highest risk have often had the poorest outcomes from intervention. Recent research has identified the factors that make parenting interventions effective and how to engage the multi-stressed, hard-to-reach families whose children are most at risk.

Research has identified risk factors that are associated with the development of conduct disorder and affect the quality of parenting. This has made it possible to provide preventive interventions, targeting families that are most at risk. Evaluations have shown, however, that getting effective preventive services to those most at risk is not straightforward and programmes need to address the problem of recruiting parents who, by virtue of their multiple problems, have traditionally been hard to engage. Emphasis is placed on the importance of using evidenced-based programmes in service settings in ways that are effective.