PARENTAL EMPATHY, PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTROL AND CHILD MALADJUSTMENT: AN EVALUATION OF THE NEST PARENT EDUCATION AND SUPPORT PROGRAM

University Of Kentucky, Lexington KY

Investigators

Abstract

This project partners with The Nest Center for Women, Children and Families (referred to as The Nest below) to (1) provide a preliminary evaluation of their implementation of the Nurturing Parenting Program (NPP) and (2) improve understanding of the role of parental empathy in physically and psychologically aggressive parenting. Scientific estimates of the association between empathy and aggression are mixed, creating a need for additional research. The proposed study addresses this need by employing multiple measures of empathy in relation to multiple outcomes. Specific aims are to: (1) Estimate relations between parental empathy and parental physical aggression and psychological aggression in a sample of high risk, low income parents prior to (typically court-mandated) NPP; (2) Determine whether parental empathy increases following NPP administered by The Nest; (3) Evaluate mediated associations between parental empathy and child adjustment; it is expected that greater parental empathy will be associated with less aggressive parenting, which will be related to fewer adjustment problems in children.