Effects of parent education on knowledge and attitudes

Adolescence, Summer, 2004 by Mary Beth Mann, Peggy T. Pearl, Pamela D. Behle

The remaining three subscales--frustration, parental empathy for the child's needs, and parent-child role reversal--are related more closely to attitudes and feelings, which are more psychological in nature. Psychological changes may be harder to achieve or take longer to occur. Perhaps conducting the study over a longer period of time would have revealed significant changes in attitudes, specifically frustration, empathy, and role reversal.

Overall, the gains in knowledge were modest (it should be noted that some participants attended classes sporadically). Because this was a short-term study, large gains were not expected. However, anecdotal reports from program educators indicated that participants with good attendance records increased their positive behaviors, such as staying in or returning to school, maintaining sobriety, utilizing community resources, and delaying subsequent pregnancies.

It should also be noted that systematic collection of data from this population was a challenge. Some participants had no permanent home, making it difficult to contact them in order to collect data after they left the program. Some had difficulty reading the inventories and questionnaire and were reluctant to ask for help. Further, self-report measures were used, and social desirability bias may have been a factor in their responses.

Nevertheless, the findings of this study suggest that knowledge about child growth and development can be increased through parent education. It is hoped that such gains will result in better parenting behaviors and fewer instances of child abuse and neglect.

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