Work

Short- and Long-Term Changes in the Network of Parenting Styles and Child Symptoms After a Digital Parent-Training Program: Network Analysis of a Nationwide Implementation Study

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Background: Digital parent-training programs are effective in reducing early childhood behavioral problems, yet little is known about how changes in parenting behaviors relate to sustained changes in child symptoms in real-world, large-scale implementations. Network analysis provides a systems-level framework for examining how parenting styles and child behavioral symptoms dynamically interact and reorganize following digital interventions. Objective: This study applied network analysis to examine how parenting styles and children's behavioral symptoms are interrelated before and after a digital-assisted parenting program implemented at a national scale, and how these associations evolve over short- and long-term follow-up (6 and 24 months). Methods: A total of 36,591 families of 4-year-old children were screened, of whom 4665 (12.7%) met the screening criteria and 2900 were enrolled and received an 11-week digital parenting intervention embedded in Finland's public health care system. Parent-reported measures of behavioral symptoms and parenting styles were collected at baseline and 6- and 24-month follow-ups. Network analysis was performed using mixed graphical models, and bootstrapping was used to assess changes in edge weights from baseline. Strength centrality indexes were also computed. Results: values <.05). Overreactivity also showed a modest increase in centrality in the change networks (centrality index: 0.75 and 0.73, respectively), while aggressive behavior remained the most central node in the networks of change (centrality index: 1.53 and 1.34, respectively). Several associations among child symptoms, particularly internalizing-related edges, weakened over time. Conclusions: These findings highlight the value of network analysis for characterizing how the associations between parenting styles and child behavioral symptoms reorganize following a digital parenting program delivered at scale, particularly the strengthened association between changes in overreactive parenting and changes in child aggression. The results support the utility of network analysis for describing durable shifts in behavioral systems and for informing the selection of central intervention targets in future controlled research.

Source: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting

DOI: 10.2196/92509

Authors: Amit Baumel, Susanna Hinkka-Yli-Salomäki, Yujing Li, Andre Sourander

Institutions: University of Haifa, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Mental Health Research Topics

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,605