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Latent Profile Analysis of Observed Parenting Behaviors in a Clinic Sample

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Abstract

We examined typologies of parenting practices using latent profile analysis (LPA) in a sample of families with young children who had externalizing behavior disorders. We also examined mother and child characteristics associated with class membership using ratings from multiple informants. The sample included pooled data from five parenting treatment outcome research studies on oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and/or conduct disorder (CD) conducted throughout the past 20 years. These studies included 21 separate cohorts of children resulting in a total of 514 families. All children met diagnostic criteria for ODD or CD and 78 % were male. Parenting practices were observed by independent raters using the Dyadic Parent–child Interactive Coding System-Revised (DPICS-R). Four summary scores (i.e., total critical statements, total commands, total positive, total supportive) from the DPICS-R were used as class indictors in the LPA. Four classes best characterized the parenting practices of this clinic sample, roughly comprising a quarter of the sample each: Positive Only, Negative Only, Positive/Negative, and Neither Positive/Negative. High observed child negative behaviors, low observed child warmth, high socioeconomic status, and low academic performance distinguished the two classes with high negative behaviors (Negative Only, Positive/Negative) from the other classes. These results provide markers of the most common parenting profiles at entry into treatment programs for behavior disorders in young children. Findings have significant implications for the tailoring parenting interventions and supports to specific family needs.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported in part by a National Institutes of Health National Center for Nursing Research Grant 5 R01NR01075-11 and a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award MH00988-09 awarded to Carolyn Webster-Stratton.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Bloomberg Children’s Center, Level 12, 1800 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA

    Lindsay A. Borden

  2. University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Keith C. Herman, Melissa Stormont & Wendy M. Reinke

  3. Texas Child Study Center/Dell Children’s Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA

    Nidhi Goel

  4. Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Dana Darney

  5. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Carolyn Webster-Stratton

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  1. Lindsay A. Borden
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  2. Keith C. Herman
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Correspondence to Lindsay A. Borden.

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Borden, L.A., Herman, K.C., Stormont, M. et al. Latent Profile Analysis of Observed Parenting Behaviors in a Clinic Sample. J Abnorm Child Psychol 42, 731–742 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-013-9815-z

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