A randomized controlled trial of the effects of parental involvement in supported playgroup on parenting stress and toddler social-communicative behavior

Kate E. Williams, Kin-Ting So and Tik-Sze Carrey Siu

Children and Youth Services Review, 2020, vol. 118, issue C

Abstract: This paper reports a randomized controlled trial in which the effects of parental involvement in supported playgroup on parenting stress and toddler social-communicative behavior were tested. Participants were 58 toddlers (Mage = 20.60 months, SD = 1.85; 25 boys and 33 girls) and their parents. The parent-toddler dyads were randomly assigned to either parent-involved or parent-uninvolved playgroup. Before and after the seven-week playgroup program, we used the Parental Stress Scale to measure parenting stress, and the Communicative Development Inventory to measure the toddlers’ communicative behavior. Observational data of toddler behavior during the playgroup were also obtained in the first, forth, and last session of the program. Results showed that parents from the parent-involved group experienced a reduction in parenting stress following the program, whereas those from the parent-uninvolved group did not. Although toddlers from both groups showed increased communicative behavior after the program, the increment in the parent-involved group was significantly greater than the parent-uninvolved group. Toddlers from the parent-involved group also exhibited greater improvements in engagement in playgroup activities and interactions with other adults and peers across the program period. The findings suggest that parental involvement is crucial in reaping the benefits of supported playgroup.

Keywords: Supported playgroup; Parent-child group; Parental involvement; Toddler; Randomized controlled trial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740920306800
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:118:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920306800

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105364

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().