Improving Future Thinking Among Mothers to Reduce Harsh Parenting and Improve Child Outcomes

The brief Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ) is a 21-item binary-choice task that asks participants to select between two hypothetical monetary amounts: a smaller reward available immediately (e.g. $49 today) or a larger reward available after a delay (e.g. $60 in 89 days). "Larger later" amounts are separated into small, medium and large magnitudes. For the purposes of this study, to limit participant burden, we administered only small and large magnitude subscales, resulting in a total number of 14 items. The measure is scored to derive a single "total score" discounting rate k, with larger values reflecting greater preference for smaller sooner reward. Because k distributions are typically skewed, post-hoc natural logarithmic transformations were performed, resulting in normal distributions; thus, there is no maximum and minimum value. The MCQ has been shown to have strong psychometric properties among adults and correlates with real rewards, as well as real-world risk behaviors.

The Consideration of Future Consequences Scale-Parenting Adapted (CFCS-14-PA) is a 14-item self-report questionnaire composed of two subscales reflecting either immediate or future orientation related to parents interactions with their children. Items range from "not at all like me" (1) to "very much like me" (5) and are summed to create future or immediate orientation subscale, each composed of 7 items with score ranges from 7-35. Lower scores on the future orientation and higher scores on the immediate orientation subscales are associated with less future orientation and predictive of less engagement in health behaviors. The measure has been used extensively among adult samples and demonstrates strong reliability and validity. Change in CFCS-14-PA score is measured by comparing scores at the post-intervention assessment (approximately 4 weeks after baseline) with baseline scores.

Parents and their children will complete a 20-minute interaction task, including 5 min. of free play, a 10 min. "homework" task, and a 5 min. clean up task. Wualitvey of parent-childre interactions were coded using the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS). The task has 7 subscales, yielding 2 composite scores: positive parenting (a sum of: unlabeled praise, labeled praise, positive touch, reflection, and behavior description) and negative parenting (a sum of: negative talk and negative touch). Each instance of a behaviors described in the subscale (e.g., a parent giving unlabeled praise) is coded as one "point" and summed into a subscale (no max or min values). Higher values indicate greater positive or negative parenting. A score is given to the dyad (not individuals scores for parent/child). Change in parenting is calculated by comparing baseline scores with scores at the post-intervention sessions (approximately 4 weeks after baseline).

The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) is a 42-item self-report measure of parenting behaviors which yields five subscales: (1) positive involvement with children (range 10-50, higher = more involvement), (2) use of positive parenting strategies (range 6-30, higher = more positive strategies), (3) poor parental monitoring/supervision (range 10-50, higher = worse supervision), (4) inconsistent discipline (range 6-30, higher = more inconsistent discipline), and (5) use of corporal punishment (higher = more corporal punishment). Items are summed to create subscale scores. Change in each of the five APQ subscale scores will be measured by comparing post-intervention scores (approximately 4 weeks after baseline) with baseline scores.

Parents will report on children's emotion regulation using the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC). Items are rated from 1 to 4 and summed to create subscales. The ECR includes 24 items. 23 items are used in computing two subscales: (1) emotion regulation (range 8 to 32, higher = greater emotion regulation) and (2) lability/negativity (range 15 to 60, higher = greater lability/negativity); the 24th item does not load onto either subscale and is not used in the current analyses. The measure is widely used and validated for parent-report of older children and young adolescents.

Following the completion of the intervention, mothers will complete the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ), which evaluates participant satisfaction with the intervention. Nine items are ranked from 1 to 4 and summed to create a total score (range 9-36, higher = greater satisfaction). The measure is used across a number of intervention studies and has been shown to be reliable and valid in adult samples.