The effectiveness of positive parenting program on self-efficacy and parenting style in mothers of children with internalized and externalized disorders

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of positive parenting program on self-efficacy and parenting style in mothers of children with internalized and externalized disorders.

This was quasi-experimental research with a pretest-posttest, and a control group. The statistical population included all mothers of children who had referred to the Falavarjan Education counseling center in the academic year of 2017-18. Thirty mothers whose children ranged in age from 6 to 11 years were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups.  Participants received a score higher than the cut-off point in the Goodman's ability and problems diagnosis of internalized and externalized Disorders. The mothers of experimental group was trained for eight sessions. The tools of this research were Domca parental self-efficacy scale and Baumrind parenting style questionnaire. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance and MANCOVA.

The results showed that positive parenting program can increase parenting self-efficacy and change parenting styles in mothers of children with internalized and externalized disorders.

Teaching positive parenting program to mothers of children with internalized and externalized disorders can increase parenting self-efficacy and change extreme parenting styles (authoritarian and permissive) in mothers. It is suggested that this program could be used to improve the parenting skills for mothers of children with internalized and externalized disorders