VIPP-SD is effective in reducing hair cortisol levels and conduct problems in school-aged children

• In Event: Physiological impact of parenting

Abstract

Meta-analytical evidence has shown that the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting (VIPP-SD) is effective in enhancing parental sensitivity and sensitive discipline (Juffer et al., 2017; Van IJzendoorn et al., 2021). By improving parental sensitivity and discipline, the intervention may also affect children’s neuroendocrine and behavioral development, in particular their cortisol levels and conduct problems. Previous research found effects of an attachment-based parenting intervention (Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up) on children’s neurobiology: 4-6-year-old children who were involved with child protective services showed more typical diurnal salivary cortisol levels than the control group when their parents were in the intervention group (Bernard et al., 2015). In a similar vein, VIPP-SD has been found to decrease salivary cortisol levels in children with the DRD4-7 repeat allele (Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., 2008). However, hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) may provide a more stable and robust measure of cortisol as an indicator of chronic stress. As far as we know, only one (small) RCT on 39 parents and their children (between 4 months and 5 years old) found an effect of a parenting intervention on child HCC (Poehlmann-Tynan et al., 2020). Effects on the neuroendocrine system may in turn be related to child behavior. The most recent and largest RCT of the VIPP-SD also showed a significant effect on child conduct problems (O’Farrelly et al., 2021). In the current pre-registered randomized controlled trial, we applied multilevel structural equation models to examine the effects of VIPP-SD on child HCC and conduct problems in two cohorts of families with twins. The early childhood cohort consisted of 202 families with preschool-aged twin pairs (n = 404 children, Mage = 4.34, SD = 0.61). The middle childhood cohort consisted of 257 families with school-aged twin pairs (n = 514 children, Mage = 8.94, SD = 0.67). We found that after the VIPP-SD intervention, cortisol levels decreased in the intervention group but not in the control group. Moreover, we found that the intervention was effective in decreasing conduct problems in the intervention group. These novel findings in a large twin sample show that a brief video-feedback intervention aiming at parental sensitivity and sensitive discipline can be effective in decreasing an index of chronic stress in children as well as their conduct problems. Future research should investigate whether these beneficial effects endure in the long-term, for example into adolescence when stress and problematic behavior may increase.

Authors

• Jana Runze, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  Presenting Author

• Irene Pappa, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, University College London (UCL)

• Marian J Bakermans-Kranenburg, ISPA Lisbon