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Positive Parenting Practices Support Children with Early Neurological Histories: A Call for Increased Modifiable Factors of Health
Janaksha Linga-Easwaran, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
Carly Goodman, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
Giulia Fabiano, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
Tricia Williams, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
Objective:
Behaviour and mental health concerns are common in children with early brain injuries, yet modifiable factors in promoting overall family well-being and socioemotional health are rarely acknowledged with the emphasis on identification of condition severity and lesion correlates. Neuropsychological research must go beyond to consider modifiable determinants of health, such as promotion of positive parenting and parental mental health intervention. Given that parents of children with early neurological injuries often report parenting challenges, partially related to having trouble placing expectations and consequences given their children’s early life challenges, positive and consistent responsive parenting practices may be one way to optimize parent-child relationships in these families. We aimed to identify whether self-reported positive parenting practices were associated with reduced behavioural concerns in children with early neurological conditions (i.e., preterm birth, perinatal stroke). In addition, we examined whether parental mental health, common in these families, impacted parenting practices.
Families of children with neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions were contacted to complete online questionnaires regarding demographics, parent stress, child behaviour, COVID-19 conditions, and parenting practices. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analyses examined the association between positive parenting practices and parenting competency measures with child behavioural outcomes, controlling for relevant covariates. MLR were also run to determine whether parental mental health impacted parenting practices.
Families (N = 179) with children 4 to 15 years old (M = 7.11y, SD = 2.02) diagnosed with neurological (84.3%) and comorbid neurodevelopmental conditions (21.2%) participated in the study between 2021-2022. More positive parenting practices predicted fewer child problem behaviors (B = -0.889, p < .001) and lower intensity of problem behaviours (B = -0.843, p < .001). Similarly, a higher sense of satisfaction with parenting competence also predicted fewer child problem behaviors (B =-0.425, p < .001) and lower intensity of problem behaviours (B = -0.477, p = <.001). In addition, higher reported parental depression (B = -0.40, p < .001), parental anxiety (B = -0.51, p < .001), and parental stress (B = -0.42, p < 0.01) significantly predicted fewer reported positive parenting practices.
In our sample of Canadian families with children with neurological and neurodevelopmental risks, positive parenting practices were associated with fewer behavioural problems in children, and parental mental health negatively impacted parenting practices. Findings point to the promising application of positive parenting interventions geared specifically towards families with children with early neurological histories, as well as the need for parental mental health intervention.