THE EFFECT OF A PARENT EDUCATION PROGRAM ON SELECTED PARENT ATTITUDES TOWARD EDUCATIONAL BELIEFS, CHILD REARING AND PARENT-CHILD INTERACTIONS

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a parent education program on parent attitudes toward educational beliefs and child rearing and on the frequency of specific parent-child interactions. The differential impact of a prescriptive versus a lecture format of parent instruction was assessed. Parent education classes were conducted in conjunction with a community program of supplementary education for learning disabled children. Parent participation was voluntary. Eighty-nine parents participated. They were divided into two experimental groups (E1, E2) and a control group (C). E1 and E2 respectively were exposed to a lecture and prescriptive form of parent instruction. The majority of participating parents were mothers of males. The mean age of the children was 6.0 years (SD = .86). The research instrument used was the short form of The Parent as Educator Inventory, (P.E.I.) (Schaefer, 1979). The P.E.I. assessed changes in parent attitudes on four factors: (I) Authoritarian Education Beliefs; (II) Progressive Educational Beliefs; (III) Rejection of Child Rearing; and (IV) Family Privacy. Parent-child interactions regarding book-related, recreational, household activities and verbal interactions were assessed. Pre and post-test administrations were analyzed through frequencies, percentiles, a two-way ANOVA, and an item analysis. The .01 level of significance was used. Results of the ANOVA showed statistically significant differences in parent attitudes from pre to post-test on all four factors. No statistically significant differences were found between the performances of the three groups. A statistically significant interaction was found between time and the method of treatment for Factors II-IV. The item analysis revealed statistically significant improvements in attitudes toward child rearing for the experimental groups. Little change was found for the control group. The data on parent-child interactions showed that the experimental group parents increased the amount of time spent interacting with their children. Parents perceived themselves as playing an active role in their children's education. The study documents that, irrespective of the format, a systematic program of parent education can have a significant impact on parental attitudes and on the occurrence of specific parent-child interactions.