Editorial: Unraveling the Mechanisms of Parenting Programs in Reducing Disruptive Behavior in Children

Disruptive child behaviors, such as aggression and oppositional behaviors, are the most common problems for which parents seek professional intervention. Historically, mental health professionals primarily addressed problematic behaviors through child therapy, adolescent institutionalization, or juvenile adjudication, all focused exclusively on changing the child's undesirable behaviors. Since the 1960s, researchers have proposed developmental models that highlight the contribution of parenting practices to the genesis, progression, and maintenance of disruptive behaviors across childhood, hence placing parents in the pivotal position as the most important agent of the child's socialization. For instance, Bandura's¹ social learning theory posits that children's learning takes place in the context of parenting and that disruptive behaviors develop and are maintained by coercive parent-child interaction patterns. Accordingly, parenting programs grounded in this theory typically target ineffective parenting skills that constitute dysfunctional learning situations, such as punitive and inconsistent discipline. These theoretical premises have driven a shift in intervention efforts from focusing on changing children's behavior to changing parents' behaviors. Parenting programs have since proliferated, with a burgeoning number of reviews reporting small to moderate effects of these parenting programs.² However, more important questions that require further elucidation are why these programs are effective and for whom they are effective.