Parent Coaching Intervention for Toddlers in Foster Care Enhances Later Inhibitory Control: Preschool Follow-up RCT Results

• In Event: Early Childhood Parent Coaching Interventions: Examining Adaptations and Coaching Process

Abstract

Introduction: Young children in foster care are often exposed to multiple forms of early adversity, including disruptions in early relationships with caregivers, and experiences of maltreatment and neglect. These early experiences place children at risk for developing problems related to behavioral regulation and executive functioning, which can lead to later problems with social relationships, academic achievement, and behavior problems. Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up for Toddlers (ABC-T), an adaptation of the original ABC designed for infants, aims to prevent these negative outcomes in children who have experienced early adversity. Specifically, ABC-T uses parent coaching to help foster parents behave in sensitive and nurturing ways in order to support the development of young children’s emerging self-regulatory capabilities. Preliminary studies have shown that ABC-T has positive effects on foster children’s cognitive flexibility, attention problems, and language development. This study extends prior findings to a later longitudinal follow-up during preschool to examine the influence of ABC-T on children’s later inhibitory control capabilities.

Methods: Participants included 118 foster parent-toddler dyads randomly assigned to receive either the ABC-T intervention (n = 63) or a control intervention (n = 55). Children were, on average 29.1 months old (SD = 8.0) at the time of the intervention. Child inhibitory control was assessed at pre-intervention and at a post-intervention follow-up visit when children were approximately 48 months old (M = 44.2, SD = 8.2). Assessment at both time points utilized an inhibitory control delay task, in which an experimenter placed an opened box of crayons and paper in front of the child, and then instructed the child not to touch the crayons while the experimenter left the room for 60 seconds. The task was video-taped and coded for the amount of time the child spent touching the crayons.

Results: A repeated-measures ANOVA was run to examine the influence of ABC-T on child inhibitory control, with intervention group (ABC-T vs. control intervention, DEF) as the between-subjects variable, time (pre- vs. post-intervention) as the within-subjects variable, and the amount of time children spent touching the crayons as the dependent variable. Results showed a significant interaction between intervention group and pre- vs. post-intervention, F(1, 116) = 4.70, Wilks’ Lambda = 0.96, p < 0.05. At pre-intervention, there was no difference between the ABC-T group (M = 20.7, SD = 24.5) and the DEF group (M = 18.0, SD = 24.7) in the amount of time children spent touching the crayons, F(1, 116) = 0.35, p = 0.55, d = 0.11. However, at the preschool post-intervention follow-up, the ABC-T group (M = 4.2, SD = 12.8) spent significantly less time touching the crayons, compared with the DEF group (M = 10.8, SD = 19.3), F(1, 116) = 4.95, p < 0.05, d = 0.41.

Conclusions: These results suggest that an attachment-based parent coaching intervention implemented with toddlers in foster care is effective in enhancing future executive functioning and inhibitory control capabilities for children exposed to early adversity.

Authors

• Teresa Lind, San Diego State University
  Presenting Author

• Mary Dozier, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author