Side effects of parent counseling on marital satisfaction.

In a study with 27 mothers and their clinic-referred children, mothers were divided into 3 groups based on their pretreatment level of marital satisfaction (Locke Marital Adjustment Test). Child compliance and deviant behavior as measured by independent observers, parent perceptions of child adjustment, and parent marital satisfaction were assessed before treatment, after treatment, and at a 2-mo follow-up. Parent counseling consisted of teaching mothers to reward appropriate behavior and use a time-out procedure for deviant behavior. All groups changed significantly from pre- to posttreatment on the child behavior measures and on parent perceptions of child adjustment. These changes were maintained at follow-up for child compliance and parent perceptions of child adjustment. The group of mothers with low marital satisfaction reported an increase in marital adjustment from pretreatment to posttreatment, but this effect was not maintained at the 2-mo follow-up. Groups with medium or high marital satisfaction reported no change in marital adjustment. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)