The follow-up study on the impact of the 101s positive discipline parent training on first-grade children’s executive function development

Abstract

The purposes of the current study were to investigate the impact of the 101s positive discipline parent training program; the national winning-award program in the U.S. for training parent, teachers, and early childhood educators on the maintenance of the parenting practices and their first-grade children’s executive function skills. It contains 101 techniques for caregivers to respond to their children with warmth and respect in order to promote children's social-emotional and cognitive skills. A followup research design with comparison group was utilized in one school setting where the 101s positive discipline for parent training had been implemented. The target group included 36 parents who had participated in the 101s training program for 3 years since their children were in the preschool periods and their 36 first-grade children. The comparison group included 39 parents who had never participated in the parent training program and their 39 first-grade children. The 101s Parent Interaction Checklist was used to measure the parents’ interaction practices. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function was used to rate the first-grade children’s executive function. A series of MANCOVA was employed to evaluate the mean difference scores on the parents’ parenting practice and first-grade children’s executive function between the sample in the target and comparison groups. The results showed that the 101s positive discipline parents training program had a strong positive impact on the maintenance of the parenting practice and children’s executive function. The discussions, limitations, implications and suggestions are discussed.