Changes in perception of family environment and self-reported symptom status in adolescents whose parents participate in an Adlerian parent-training intervention.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to determine if adolescents whose parents participate in an Adlerian-based parenting education program, known as Systematic Training for Effective Parenting-Teen (STEP-Teen), perceive more similarly to their parents the family environment in general, more democratic family values within the family environment, and report a decline in problematic behaviors and troubling emotions after the STEP intervention. As there is a vital need for research that investigates multiple perspectives following parent education, this study has focused in part on the self-reports of the adolescents whose parents participate in STEP. A sample of parents (n=20) and their adolescents (n=20) were individually assessed prior to and following the parents' participation in the STEP-Teen intervention. The intervention took place at a middle school in Central New York State and was divided into three three-hour sessions. The adolescent was administered the Family Environment Scale-Third Edition (Form R) by Moos and Moos, the Adolescent Version of the Adlerian Family Values Measure, and the Youth Self Report (Achenbach, 2001). The parents completed the Family Environment Scale (Third Edition, Form R), the Parent Version of the Adlerian Family Values Measure, and the Adlerian Parent Education Knowledge Measure. The results indicated that there were no significant decreases in self-reported internalizing symptomatology, externalizing symptomatology, nor did parent-adolescent perception incongruence on the Adlerian Family Values Measure significantly decrease. However, there was a significant increase in parents' knowledge about the STEP-Teen concepts presented in the program as well as a decrease in the parent-adolescent perception incongruence on the Family Environment Scale. Thus, this study indicates that the parents learning new parenting skills and parent and adolescent's perceptions of the family environment became less discrepant following parents' participation in the STEP program. Treatment implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.