Parent training for children born premature: a pilot study examining the moderating role of emotion regulation

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Pediatric Medicine
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Young children born preterm often exhibit externalizing behavior problems.
• Parent-training interventions like parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) show promise for this population.
• The role of emotion regulation in treatment efficacy for preterm infants requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the moderating effect of emotion regulation on the efficacy of PCIT for young children born preterm.
• To determine if baseline emotion regulation skills predict treatment response in this cohort.
• To explore the differential susceptibility hypothesis in the context of early intervention for preterm infants.

Main Methods:

• Pilot randomized controlled trial with 28 preterm infants (<37 weeks gestation) with externalizing behaviors.
• Random assignment to immediate PCIT or a waitlist control group.
• Observer-coded global regulation during baseline parent-child interaction; parent-report of child disruptive behavior for treatment efficacy.

Main Results:

• A significant interaction between global regulation and treatment condition was found for changes in child disruptive behavior.
• Higher baseline levels of distress were associated with greater reductions in disruptive behavior post-intervention.
• This suggests that children with higher distress may be more responsive to PCIT.

Conclusions:

• Emotion regulation skills, particularly distress levels, moderate the effectiveness of PCIT in preterm children.
• Findings support the differential susceptibility hypothesis, highlighting that some children may benefit more from interventions based on their inherent characteristics.
• Clinical implications emphasize the importance of assessing and considering children's emotion regulation in psychosocial treatments for premature infants.