Mindful Parenting, Parenting Cognitions, and Parent-Youth Communication: Bidirectional Linkages and Mediational Processes.

OBJECTIVES: Mindful parenting and parenting cognitions likely have important linkages to each other and to parent-child communication, but these linkages have not been tested. In this article, we test the bidirectional linkages between mindful parenting and parenting cognitions (sense of competence, parent-centered attributions) and the underlying mediational processes that link them to parent-child communication (parental solicitation and youth disclosure). METHODS: Longitudinal, autoregressive cross-lagged models were run within a longitudinal sample of rural and suburban early adolescents and their mothers (n = 421; mean adolescent age = 12.14, 46% male, 73% white). RESULTS: Significant bidirectional linkages were found between mindful parenting and parenting cognitions across Time 1 and Time 2. Greater mindful parenting at Time 1 was associated with more positive parenting cognitions (e.g., greater perceptions of parental competence and fewer negative parent-centered attributions or self-blame) at Time 2. More positive parenting cognitions at Time 1 were also associated with greater levels of mindful parenting at Time 2. Mindful parenting at Time 2 mediated the association between parenting cognitions (both parent-centered attributions and sense of competence) at Time 1 and parental solicitation at Time 3. CONCLUSIONS: Mindful parenting and parenting cognitions influence each other over time. Parenting cognitions can affect parental solicitation via increases in mindful parenting. The discussion focuses on potential underlying processes.

Unfolding Relations among Mindful Parenting, Recurrent Conflict, and Adolescents' Externalizing and Internalizing Problems.

The current study examined unfolding relations among mothers' mindful parenting, parent-adolescent recurrent conflict, and adolescents' externalizing and internalizing problems. In a community sample of 117 families (31% black, Asian, American Indian, or Latino), parents and adolescents (52% female; average age = 12.13 years) were followed over 15 months. Parents answered questions about mindful parenting and recurrent conflict, and adolescents reported on their own externalizing and internalizing problems. Path analyses indicated that higher levels of mindful parenting were significantly related to lower levels of recurrent conflict 2-3 months later, controlling for previous levels of recurrent conflict. Moreover, lower levels of recurrent conflict were significantly related to lower levels of externalizing problems and internalizing problems 1 year later, controlling for previous levels of those problems. Subgroup analyses indicated that relations were comparable across subgroups defined by adolescent gender, race, parent marital status, and family financial strain. The effects of mindful parenting were robust even after accounting for other indicators of positive and supportive parenting, namely inductive reasoning and warmth in the parent-adolescent relationship. These findings highlight the potential of mindful parenting to improve family interactions and adolescent adjustment.

Changes in Mindful Parenting: Associations With Changes in Parenting, Parent-Youth Relationship Quality, and Youth Behavior.

OBJECTIVE: There is growing interest in mindful parenting and how this form of intentional, compassionate interactions with youth are associated with developmental outcomes. We investigated how mindful parenting changes over time, either naturally or in response to interventions, and how that change is associated with other proximal developmental changes. METHOD: We used data from a longitudinal, randomized-controlled study design (N = 432 families) to investigate the associations between changes in mindful parenting and 3 outcomes: positive parenting, parent-youth relationship quality, and youth aggression. Differences across 3 intervention conditions and between mothers and fathers were tested. RESULTS: Across conditions, changes in mindful parenting were strongly associated with changes in all 3 outcomes for both fathers and mothers. Changes in mindful parenting showed considerable variability within and across conditions. For fathers, differences in mindful parenting change were driven primarily by changes in the core mindful parenting dimension of emotional awareness. Mothers showed comparable changes in mindful parenting across conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings illustrate how changes in mindful parenting are associated with proximal changes that could lead to reduced youth behavior problems (e.g., aggression or substance use) and provide additional evidence for the contribution that mindfulness activities can make to standard parent training.

Understanding How Mindful Parenting May Be Linked to Mother-Adolescent Communication.

Researchers have sought to understand the processes that may promote effective parent-adolescent communication because of the strong links to adolescent adjustment. Mindfulness, a relatively new construct in Western psychology that derives from ancient Eastern traditions, has been shown to facilitate communication and to be beneficial when applied in the parenting context. In this article, we tested if and how mindful parenting was linked to routine adolescent disclosure and parental solicitation within a longitudinal sample of rural and suburban, early adolescents and their mothers (n = 432; mean adolescent age = 12.14, 46 % male, 72 % Caucasian). We found that three factors-negative parental reactions to disclosure, adolescent feelings of parental over-control, and the affective quality of the parent-adolescent relationship-mediated the association between mindful parenting and adolescent disclosure and parental solicitation. Results suggest that mindful parenting may improve mother-adolescent communication by reducing parental negative reactions to information, adolescent perceptions of over-control, and by improving the affective quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. The discussion highlights intervention implications and future directions for research.

Integrating mindfulness with parent training: effects of the Mindfulness-Enhanced Strengthening Families Program.

There is growing support for the efficacy of mindfulness training with parents as an intervention technique to improve parenting skills and reduce risk for youth problem behaviors. The evidence, however, has been limited to small scale studies, many with methodological shortcomings. This study sought to integrate mindfulness training with parents into the Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14 (SFP 10-14), an empirically-validated family-based preventive intervention. It used a randomized-controlled comparative effectiveness study design (N = 432 families, 31% racial/ethnic minority) to test the efficacy of the Mindfulness-Enhanced Strengthening Families Program (MSFP), compared to standard SFP 10-14 and a minimal-treatment home study control condition. Results indicated that, in general, MSFP was as effective as SFP 10-14 in improving multiple dimensions of parenting, including interpersonal mindfulness in parenting, parent-youth relationship quality, youth behavior management, and parent well-being, according to both parent and youth reports at both postintervention and 1-year follow-up. This study also found that in some areas MSFP boosted and better sustained the effects of SFP 10-14, especially for fathers. Although the pattern of effects was not as uniform as hypothesized, this study provides intriguing evidence for the unique contribution of mindfulness activities to standard parent training.

The Mindfulness-enhanced Strengthening Families Program: integrating brief mindfulness activities and parent training within an evidence-based prevention program.

Teaching mindfulness to parents as well as adolescents through a family-centered intervention approach can have a positive impact on the parent-youth relationship. In mindful parenting, caretakers are aware of their own feelings and emotions, and interact with their adolescents in a mindful way by demonstrating emotional awareness, attentive listening, nonjudgment, self-regulation, and compassion. This chapter discusses the need for family-centered mindfulness approaches in adolescence. It introduces the Mindfulness-enhanced Strengthening Families Program, describes specific program activities and their theoretical rationale, and presents initial empirical evidence from pilot studies of the intervention.

Modeling the interplay of multilevel risk factors for future academic and behavior problems: a person-centered approach.

This study identified profiles of 13 risk factors across child, family, school, and neighborhood domains in a diverse sample of children in kindergarten from four US locations (n = 750; 45% minority). It then examined the relation of those early risk profiles to externalizing problems, school failure, and low academic achievement in Grade 5. A person-centered approach, latent class analysis, revealed four unique risk profiles, which varied considerably across urban African American, urban White, and rural White children. Profiles characterized by several risks that cut across multiple domains conferred the highest risk for negative outcomes. Compared to a variable-centered approach, such as a cumulative risk index, these findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the early precursors to negative outcomes. For example, results suggested that urban children in single-parent homes that have few other risk factors (i.e., show at least average parenting warmth and consistency and report relatively low stress and high social support) are at quite low risk for externalizing problems, but at relatively high risk for poor grades and low academic achievement. These findings provide important information for refining and targeting preventive interventions to groups of children who share particular constellations of risk factors.

Changing Parent's Mindfulness, Child Management Skills and Relationship Quality With Their Youth: Results From a Randomized Pilot Intervention Trial.

We evaluated the efficacy of a mindful parenting program for changing parents' mindfulness, child management practices, and relationships with their early adolescent youth and tested whether changes in parents' mindfulness mediated changes in other domains. We conducted a pilot randomized trial with 65 families and tested an adapted version of the Strengthening Families Program: For Parent and Youth 10-14 that infused mindfulness principles and practices against the original program and a delayed intervention control group. Results of pre-post analyses of mother and youth-report data showed that the mindful parenting program generally demonstrated comparable effects to the original program on measures of child management practices and stronger effects on measures of mindful parenting and parent-youth relationship qualities. Moreover, mediation analyses indicated that the mindful parenting program operated indirectly on the quality of parent-youth relationships through changes in mindful parenting. Overall, the findings suggest that infusing mindful parenting activities into existing empirically validated parenting programs can enhance their effects on family risk and protection during the transition to adolescence.

Parenting schemas and the process of change.

Parents' childrearing behaviors are guided by schemas of the caregiving role, their functioning in that role, what children need in general, and what their own children are like in particular. Sometimes, however, parenting schemas can be maladaptive because they are too rigid or simple, involve inappropriate content, or are dominated by negative affect. In this article, we describe parenting schemas and provide an overview of empirical work documenting the characteristics of maladaptive parenting schemas. We review how intervention practices common to multiple therapeutic approaches (cognitive-behavior therapy, family therapy, parent training, attachment-based interventions, and psychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy) attempt to modify schemas to promote more optimal functioning among parents. We highlight how research in cognitive science may explain, in part, treatment effectiveness.