The effect of the parent management training to mothers of school-boys with externalizing disorders on their general health and parenting styles

Externalizing disorders are seen in childhood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the behavior parent training on parenting styles and mental health of mothers of children with externalizing disorders.
Materials and Methods:This quasi experimental trial study was down with pre and post test evaluation and control group. Samples of study were boy schools (7-10 years old) in Tabriz, city, north-western part of Iran. Thirty two mothers whose children had externalizing disorders and also had insufficient parenting styles (16 mothers with authoritative parenting style, 16 mothers with permissive parenting style) with cut-point scores≥23 in general health questionnaire were randomly selected and allocated to the experimental and control groups. Experimental group received behavior parent training and parenting style questionnaire and general health questionnaire was administered as a post-test to both groups of mothers. Data obtained from this study was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U procedure.
Results: The results showed that authoritarian (P=0.02) and permissive (P=0.02) parenting styles decreased significantly in experimental group but authoritative parenting style increased significantly (P=0.04). Also general mental health score increased (P=0.000) and scores of subscales of physical symptoms (P=0.001), anxiety and sleep problems (P=0.02) and depression (P=0.01) decreased significantly after the training. No significant difference was shown between two groups in subscale of social malfunctioning after the training (P=0.14).
Conclusion: The results of this research showed that behavior parent training is helpful for changing parenting styles and improving of mental health of mothers of children with externalizing disorders. Training of parenting style can decrease behavior problems of children with externalizing disorder and improve mental health of their mothers.