During the spring and summer of 1998, 214 parents participated in a study of the relationship between parenting practices and children's behavior problems.  The purpose of this document is to provide feedback to the participants.  Before discussing the results, we will define some terms and describe the methods used in gathering the data.

    Parenting Practices.  For the purpose of this presentation, parenting practices are defined as "...anything the parent does, or fails to do, that may affect the child" (Kendziora & O'Leary, 1993, p.177).  The key point is that we were interested in parents' behavior, not their attitudes or opinions or beliefs about parenting.   Parenting practices (or parenting behavior) include discipline strategies (e.g., time out, corporal punishment, taking away privileges, etc.), the use of rewards and praise, and involvement with the child (e.g., attending parent-child conferences, helping with homework, playing together, etc.).

    Conduct/Behavior Problems.  Conduct problems, also referred to as behavior problems, include defiance, noncompliance, irritability, argumentativeness, impulsivity, verbal aggression (e.g., name calling, teasing, insulting, threatening), physical aggression (e.g., hitting, fighting), temper tantrums, and delinquent behaviors (e.g., stealing, lying, fire setting, etc.).  All children engage in some of these behaviors at some point.  We describe them as behavior problems when they are age-inappropriate or are occurring with unusual frequency or intensity.

    Deaf and hard-of-hearing children, as a group, appear to have a higher incidence of behavior problems than do normal-hearing children.  In a recent study of deaf and hard-of-hearing children ages 6 - 14, Mitchell and Quittner (1996) found that from one-third to one-half of the sample evidenced behavior problems.  These results are similar to those reported in several other studies.

    There is an extensive body of research with normal-hearing children linking behavior problems and parenting practices in two ways:

    Parenting and the Development of Behavior Problems.  Certain parenting behaviors seem to contribute to the development and maintenance of behavior problems.  For example, inconsistent discipline, harsh punishment, inadequate supervision/monitoring of children's behavior, failing to reward appropriate behavior, and inadvertently rewarding inappropriate behavior, have all been identified as contributors to child behavior problems.

    Parenting and the Treatment of Behavior Problems.  There is extensive and consistent evidence indicating that the most effective means of treating behavior problems, particularly in young children, is to teach parents how to change their children's behavior.  In a typical treatment program (e.g., Forehand & Long, 1996) parents are taught to attend to and reward desirable behaviors while ignoring (i.e., not reward) or using time-out and other mild punishment to eliminate problematic behaviors.

    This study was designed to take a first, small step toward remedying this situation.  Three specific questions were addressed:
 

• Are the same parenting practices that contribute to behavior problems among normal-hearing children correlated with behavior problems among deaf or hard-of-hearing children?

• Are hearing parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing children engaging in parenting practices which contribute to the development/maintenance of behavior problems?

• Are there factors related to the child's hearing loss, specifically the mode (e.g., oral, manual) and quality of parent-child communication, that are related to parenting practices?

    Data for this study were collected from 214 parents of children ages 3 - 18 in one of three ways.  Thirty-nine parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing children completed a questionnaire they received either through the mail or from a teacher at a non-residential school for the deaf, and returned it through the mail.  An additional thirty-four parents responded to an announcement posted on a listserv for parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing children.  They were instructed to follow a link to an on-line questionnaire.  These participants were able to respond to the items on-line and submit their responses directly to a data file.  The parents of 141 normal-hearing children enrolled in a university lab school completed a questionnaire they received in the mail and returned it by mail.

    Participants were asked to provide information about themselves and their child including, for the parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing children, the cause, type, and degree of hearing loss, child's and parent's preferred mode of communication, parent's fluency in manual communication (if applicable), and the child's school placement.  Participants also completed the following instruments:
 

Alabama Parenting Questionnaire.  The APQ is a 42-item instrument designed to assess how frequently parents engage in specific parenting practices that have been linked to child behavior problems.  The instrument yields scores on five scales (or categories of parenting practices):
 
• Parental Involvement (e.g., play games/talk with child, attend parent/teacher conferences)
 
• Positive Parenting (e.g., praise child for good behavior, compliment your child)
 
• Poor Monitoring/Supervision (e.g., child is at home without supervision)
 
• Inconsistent Discipline (e.g., threaten to punish but don't follow through)
 
• Corporal Punishment (e.g., spank, slap, hit child)

Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory.  The ECBI is a 36-item instrument designed to assess conduct problems in children ages 2-17.  It yields scores on two scales.  An Intensity Score reflects the frequency with which each of 36 problem behaviors occur.  A Problem Score reflects the severity of conduct problems.  The ECBI has been used in previous research with deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
 

 Are the same parenting practices that contribute to behavior problems among normal-hearing children correlated with behavior problems among deaf or hard-of-hearing children?

Generally, yes.  When we correlated scores on the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire, we found the same correlations typically found among hearing parents and children.  Among young children, ages 3-8, we found that inconsistent discipline and the use of corporal punishment by parents were associated with greater frequency of behavior problems among deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
Among children ages 9-12 we found that inconsistent discipline and inadequate monitoring/supervision were associated with a greater frequency of behavior problems.  Parental involvement and the use of positive parenting practices were associated with fewer behavior problems.  Among older children, ages 13-17, we found that inconsistent discipline and a lack of parental involvement were both related to a greater frequency of behavior problems.  These results are very similar to what others have found among parents of normal-hearing children.
 

Are hearing parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing children engaging in parenting practices which contribute to the development/maintenance of behavior problems?
 
In order to address this question, we compared the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire scores of parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children to the scores of the parents of hearing children.  We found that the groups had very similar scores on three of the five parenting scales.  There were no differences in the use of corporal punishment , inconsistent discipline, or positive parenting.  In fact, both groups reported that they are quite consistent in disciplining their children, that they frequently engage in positive parenting practices, and that they rarely, if ever, use corporal punishment.  We did find that the parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children more closely supervise/monitor their children's activities than do parents of hearing children.  We also found that parents of hearing children reported a greater degree of involvement in their child's activities.  These differences may be due, in part, to the fact that the hearing children in this study, as a group, were older than the deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

Are there factors related to the child's hearing loss, specifically the mode (e.g., oral, manual) and quality of parent-child communication, that are related to parenting practices?
 
In order to answer this question, we looked at two pieces of information: the child's mode of communication (oral only v. manual) and the match between the mode of communication used by the child and the mode of communication used by the parent.  In other words, we subdivided the parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children into two groups.  In the MATCH group, the mode of communication the parent used to communicate with the child matched the child's preferred mode of communication (e.g., the parent used oral communication with the child and the child typically communicates orally).  In the MISMATCH group, the parent's mode of communication was different from the child's preferred mode (e.g., the child prefers manual, the parent uses oral).  We found that 70.8% of the parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing chidden matched their child's mode of communication, 29.2% did not.

We found no evidence that parenting practices were related to whether a child used manual or oral communication.  We found no evidence that parenting practices were related to whether the parents matched or didn't match their child's communication.  However, we did find that the MISMATCHED parents reported more severe conduct problems in their children than did the MATCHED parents.
 

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Conclusions

    This study serves as a much needed first step toward describing the parenting practices of parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.  It provides evidence that the well-documented relationships between parenting and behavior problems among hearing children exist among families with deaf and hard-of-hearing children.  This study also suggests that, as a group, parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing child engage in parenting behaviors quite similar to those of hearing children.  A particularly interesting finding was that the quality of parent-child communication (i.e., the match between parent and child mode of communication) appears to be related to the severity of child behavior problems.

    It is important to keep these results in the appropriate context.  This is clearly a pilot study.  The samples were relatively small and probably not representative of all parents of hearing children or parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.  The sample of parents of hearing children (all of whom were enrolled in a private, university-affiliated school) have a relatively high socioeconomic status and education level.  The parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children, particularly those recruited via the internet, probably don't represent all parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

    This study does suggest some interesting and significant directions for future research.  It also suggests that the parenting programs that have been found to be so effective in treating behavior problems among hearing children, may also be effective in treating similar problems among deaf and hard-of-hearing children.


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What's Next?

    Based on the results of this project, we plan to begin evaluating how well a proven parenting program designed to help hearing children with behavior problems will work with a group of parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing kids with behavior problems.  One idea we're really interested in exploring is offering a parenting group via the Internet.  These programs are typically offered in a group setting.  Parents meet weekly with a therapist to discuss parenting strategies, practice new skills, and share ideas.  The discussions are centered around readings and other assignments the parents do during the week.  One problem in offering such a program to parents of deaf kids, particularly outside of the metropolitan areas, is the difficulty getting a sufficient number of parents to form a group.  Offering  a group via the internet is potentially a very promising solution.  We plan to provide parents with written materials and to meet one evening a week in a chat room, restricted to the members of the group, to discuss the readings, talk about how to implement the techniques, engage in problem solving, and support each other's efforts.

    If you think you might be interested in participating in such a group, please send an e-mail to Dr. Brubaker (psybruba@acs.eku.edu) the address below and we'll be happy to keep you informed as our plans develop.  There will be no charge for participating and we will cover the costs of the book.


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Thanks.

    To those of you who took the time to participate in this project, thank you.  Obviously, we couldn't have done it without you.  We intend to make every effort to insure that the results of this work further efforts to provide appropriate services to deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their families.  If you have any questions or comments, or would like to have more information about the project, please feel free to contact Dr. Brubaker via e-mail (psybruba@acs.eku.edu).

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References

    Forehand, R. & Long, N. (1996). Parenting the Strong-Willed Child. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc.

    Kendziora, K. & O'Leary, S. (1993). Dysfunctional parenting as a focus for prevention and treatment of child behavior problems.  In T. Ollendick & R. Prinz (Eds.), Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, Vol. 15.  NY:  Plenum Press.

    Mitchell, T. & Quittner, A. (1996). Multimethod study of attention and behavior problems in hearing-impaired children.  Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25, 83-96.