Long-Term Effects of Parenting-Focused Preventive Interventions to Promote Resilience of Children and Adolescents

In this article, we address three questions concerning the long-term effects of parenting-focused preventive interventions: (a) Do prevention programs promote effective parenting in families facing normative stressors as well as those facing frequent adversity? (b) Do parenting programs prevent children's long-term problems? (c) Do changes in parenting mediate long-term effects of programs? We address these questions by summarizing evidence from 22 programs with randomized trials and followups of 3 years or longer. We describe in more detail two interventions for divorced and bereaved families, suggesting that they prevent a range of problems and promote a range of developmental competencies over a prolonged period. Program effects to strengthen parenting mediated many of these long-term outcomes.