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. 2024 Jun 30;11(7):803.
doi: 10.3390/children11070803.

"Our Generation Is Trying to Break Some of That Resistance to Emotions"-A Mixed-Methods Pilot Examination of Tuning in to Kids for Black Parents of Preschoolers in the United States

Briana J Williams  1 , John S Carlson  1
Affiliations

"Our Generation Is Trying to Break Some of That Resistance to Emotions"-A Mixed-Methods Pilot Examination of Tuning in to Kids for Black Parents of Preschoolers in the United States

Briana J Williams et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: A growing body of literature examines the utility of emotion-focused parenting programs, as behaviorally based programs currently dominate the parenting literature. Few of those studies examine differences in how Black parents may benefit. This mixed-methods pilot study examined preliminary fidelity, efficacy, and acceptability of Tuning in to Kids (TIK), an emotion-focused parenting program targeting parenting practices and children's emotion regulation through a strengths-based approach.

Methods: Pre, post, and one-month follow-up measurements were collected from 21 parents in the United States who were randomly assigned to a treatment (i.e., TIK) or waitlist control group. They were assessed across several self-report parent measures (parental emotion regulation, emotion socialization parenting practices and beliefs) and parent-report of children's social-emotional competence. Parents in the TIK group completed interviews to further understand their experience participating in the intervention.

Results: Descriptive analyses showed general improvements and positive change in parenting practices, beliefs, parental emotion regulation, and children's self-regulation. Large effect sizes indicate reductions of parents emotion dismissing and distressed reactions to children's negative emotions. TIK was overall rated as a highly acceptable intervention. Parent interviews offer essential information to provide context to Black parents' experiences utilizing TIK as well as themes related to challenges in raising Black children with self-regulation difficulties.

Conclusions: Overall, these preliminary mixed-methods outcomes suggest that TIK is a promising parenting program to improve Black parents' emotion regulation, emotion coaching beliefs and positive parenting practices. Further research is needed to investigate the effectiveness of TIK and other emotion-focused parenting programs with Black parents and assess the necessity of future cultural adaptations.

Keywords: Black parents; early childhood; mixed methods; parenting program; pilot study.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The intervention developers had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

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