Predictors of barriers to treatment and therapeutic change in outpatient therapy for antisocial children and their families

Abstract

This study examined the role of parent psychopathology and quality of life in predicting barriers to participation in outpatient treatment and therapeutic change among clinically referred children. Children (N = 169) referred for oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behavior and their families participated. The major findings were that (1) higher levels of parent psychopathology and lower levels of quality of life predicted the subsequent emergence of perceived barriers to treatment in the parents and therapeutic changes among the children, (2) these effects were not explained by socioeconomic disadvantage or severity of child dysfunction, (3) perceived barriers and therapeutic changes were related and this relation was not explained by other family and child predictors, (4) as the level of perceived barriers increased among families, the amount of therapeutic change and the proportion of children who made a marked change decreased, and (5) parent perception of the relevance and demandingness of treatment were salient dimensions contributing to the relation between perceived barriers and therapeutic change. The conceptual and applied implications of relating barriers to treatment and therapeutic change are discussed.