TY - JOUR T1 - Intensive interventions to improve parenting JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood JO - Arch Dis Child SP - 90 LP - 93 DO - 10.1136/adc.79.1.90 VL - 79 IS - 1 AU - Stephen Scott Y1 - 1998/07/01 UR - http://adc.bmj.com/content/79/1/90.abstract N2 - The way parents bring up their children has become a matter of increasing public and professional concern. There is strong interest in defining the elements of successful parenting so that all parents can help their children reach their potential and lead a fulfilling life. There is also a drive to prevent parenting failure and family breakdown, especially as manifested by child abuse and the rising tide of antisocial behaviour in children and young people.In recent years the number of programmes and approaches for improving parenting has mushroomed.1 Some cater for basically competent parents while others target those at high risk of parenting failure and family breakdown. This article describes the nature and effectiveness of a programme for parents who are experiencing serious difficulty looking after and controlling children aged 3–8 years. It is useful to distinguish between support for parents and support for parenting. General characteristics of parents such as being single and alone, poor, in a rough neighbourhood, a drug addict, of limited intellect, depressed, etc, make it harder to bring a child up successfully. However, if these adversities can be managed so that the immediate quality of parenting behaviour is adequate, the outcome for the children is not compromised.2 Several community studies have shown that it is the quality of the immediate moment to moment behaviour of the parent towards the child that has the major influence on the child’s wellbeing rather than the circumstances per se.3 These findings allow cautious optimism, insofar as there is no inevitably bad outcome for children brought up by parents who have to cope with stressful circumstances or mental illness. There is now overwhelming evidence that particular parenting styles are harmful for children and are particularly associated with antisocial child behaviour.4 5 These are: a persistently hostile, … ER -