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Getting help with parenting makes a difference -- at any age
New Oxford University study finds that parenting interventions(育儿干预)for helping children with behavior problems are just as effective in school age, as in younger children.
There is a dominant view among scientists and policy-makers. They believes, for the greatest effect, interventions need to be early in life, when children's brain function and behavior are thought to be more flexible. However, according to the new research, it's time to stop focusing on when we intervene with parenting, and just continue helping children in need of all ages.
Just published in Child Development, the study is one of the first to this age assumption. Parenting interventions are a common and effective tool for reducing child behavior problems, but studies of age effects have produced different results until now.
A team led by Professor Frances Fardner data from over 15,000 families from all over the world, and found no evidence that earlier is better. Older children benefited just as much as younger ones from parenting interventions for reducing behavior problems. There was no evidence that earlier interventions are more powerful. This was based on data from more than 150 different experiments.
What's more, their economic analysis found that interventions with older children were more likely to be cost-effective.
Professor Gardner commented: “When there is about behavioral difficulties in younger children, our findings should never be used as a reason to delay intervention, otherwise, children and families will suffer for longer.” She continued, “As for parenting interventions for reducing behavior problems in childhood, we should stick to the principle, 'it's never too early, never too late', rather than 'earlier is better'.”
The study draws the conclusion that it makes sense to invest in parenting interventions for children at all ages with behavioral difficulties, because they are no more likely to be in younger than older children, at least in the pre-adolescents.
Of course, there's more work to be done. The experiments conducted were to pre-adolescents, to shorter-term effects, and parent-reported assessment of child outcomes. Future studies are needed that focus on adolescents, longer-term outcomes, and using multiple sources for child behavior problems.
