Improving Parent Emotion Socialization Practices: Piloting Tuning in to Kids in Iran for Children With Disruptive Behavior Problems

• Author: Parvaneh Mohammadkhani,Behrooz Dolatshahi,Sophie S. Havighurst,Fateme Aghaie Meybodi,Abbas Pourshahbaz
• Date: 01 December 2019
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12387

F A M Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Research Center

of Addiction and Behavioral Sciences, Yazd, Iran

P M, A P,  B D University of

Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran

S S. H University of Melbourne

Improving Parent Emotion Socialization Practices:

Piloting Tuning in to Kids in Iran for Children

With Disruptive Behavior Problems

Objective: To evaluate Tuning in to Kids (TIK),

an emotion-focused parenting program for

mothers and preschool children with disruptive

behavior problems in Iran.

Background: Disruptive behaviors occur in

approximately 23% of Iranian children and are

associated with poorer emotional competence.

The TIK parenting programwas used to improve

children’s emotion competence and behavior

by focusing on parent emotion socialization

practices and emotion-coaching skills.

Method: Fifty-four children (3–6 years of age)

were screened for behavior problems and

randomly assigned to intervention or waitlist

control conditions. Mothers in the intervention

condition attended a six-session version of

the TIK program with two booster sessions at

2-month intervals. Mothers completed ques-

tionnaires assessing children’s behavior and

emotional competence as well as parents’ emo-

tional socialization and emotion regulation at

Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Research

Center of Addiction and Behavioral Sciences, Yazd, Iran

(fateme.aghaie@yahoo.com).

Key Words: preschool, child behavior disorders,

mother–child relations, parenting,socialization.

preintervention, postintervention, and 3-month

follow-up.

Results: Compared with those in the control

condition, mothers in the intervention condition

reported statistically lower emotion dismissive

parenting, childbehavior problems, and emotion

lability, as well as more emotion coaching.

Conclusion: TIK shows promise as a way of

enhancing parent emotion socialization result-

ing in improved child behavior and emotional

competence in children with disruptive behavior

problems.

Implications: The ndings suggest the program

is a useful addition to existing parenting pro-

grams used in Iran.

Disruptive behaviors, characterized by nega-

tive emotion, aggression, oppositionality, and

hyperactivity, often occur in the preschool

years, especially among boys, affecting up

to 23% of Iranian children (Mohammadi,

Vaisi Raiegani, Jalali, Ghobadi, & Abbasi,

2019). The development of behavior problems

in children is associated with poorer emo-

tional competence (Morris, Silk, Steinberg,

Terranova, & Kithakye, 2010), specically

difculties with understanding and regulating

596 Family Relations 68 (December 2019): 596–607

DOI:10.1111/fare.12387