Collateral effects of coping power on caregiver symptoms of depression and long-term changes in child behavior

Abstract

A large body of research demonstrates positive impacts of the Coping Power Program as a preventive intervention for youth behavioral outcomes, but potential collateral effects for caregivers is less known. The current study examined whether the youth-focused Coping Power Program can have a secondary impact on caregiver self-reported symptoms of depression and in turn result in longer-term impacts on child disruptive behavior problems including aggression, conduct problems and hyperactivity. Data from 360 youth/caregiver pairs across 8 waves of data (grades 4 through 10) were analyzed. We used two methodological approaches to (a) assess indirect effects in the presence of potential bidirectionality using timepoint-to-timepoint dynamic effects under Autoregressive Latent Trajectory modeling and (b) estimate scale scores in the presence of measurement non-invariance. Results showed that individually delivered Coping Power (ICP) produced greater direct effects on conduct problems and indirect effects on general externalizing and hyperactivity (through reductions in caregiver self-reported symptoms of depression), compared to group Coping Power (GCP). In comparison to GCP, ICP produced similar direct effects on reductions in caregiver depression. Child-focused prevention interventions can have an indirect impact on caregiver depression, which later shows improvements in longer-term reductions for child disruptive problems.