Tantrum Tamers 2.0: The Role of Emotion

The ECBI is a 36 item parent-report scale. For each item, parents rate the intensity of the behavior (0 = never to 7 = always) and whether they consider each behavior to be a problem (0 = no; 1 = yes). Clinically significant symptoms are defined by scores more than 2 standard deviations above the normed mean for the Intensity Subscale (clinical cutoff = 127) and/or Problem Subscale (clinical cutoff = 11) Scales. Intensity scores range from 36 to 252. A mean score decrease indicates a reduction in parent perception of the intensity of the problem behavior.

The ECBI is a 36 item parent-report scale. For each item, parents rate the intensity of the behavior (0 = never to 7 = always) and whether they consider each behavior to be a problem (0 = no; 1 = yes). Clinically significant symptoms are defined by scores more than 2 standard deviations above the normed mean for the Intensity Subscale (clinical cutoff = 127) and/or Problem Subscale (clinical cutoff = 11) Scales. The number of "yes" responses are counted and averaged. Problem scores range from 0 to 36. A mean score decrease indicates a reduction in parent perception of the number of the problem behaviors.

The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) will be used as the measure of caregiver's emotion dysregulation. The 36-item DERS yields a composite total score as well as scores for the following subscales: 1) Nonacceptance Subscale, non-acceptance of negative emotions; 2) Goal Subscale, difficulties in engaging in goal-directed behaviors when experiencing negative emotions, 3) Impulse Subscale, impulse control difficulties; 4) Strategies Subscale, limited access to emotion regulation strategies; 5) Awareness Subscale, lack of emotional awareness; and 6) Clarity Subscale, lack of emotional clarity. DERS total scores range from 36 to 180. The composite total is reported for this small sample size. A mean score decrease indicates a reduction in parent difficulties with emotion regulation.

The Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES) assesses the ways that parents cope with their children's distress and negative emotions. Participants use a 7-point Likert scale where 7 indicates high levels of specific parenting behavior (i.e. supportive and non-supportive parenting behavior). Scores are reported condensing 6 categories into 2 broader domains (supportive/non-supportive) with scores ranging from 1 to 21. Assessed at Baseline and end of study. A mean score decrease in non-supportive scores reflects an improvement in parents' non-supportive strategies and a mean score increase in the supportive score indicates improvement in parents' supportive strategies.