Parents learn to tackle misbehaviour

Misbehaviour can lead to lifelong social exclusion

Parenting classes are an effective way of reducing anti-social behaviour in children, researchers say.

And if serious anti-social behaviour can be nipped in the bud, there are significant cost savings for society, the researchers at King's College London found.

Children with disruptive behaviour cost society 10 times more - in excess of £70,000 - than those with no problems, their study for the British Medical Journal suggests.

Crime incurs the greatest cost, followed by special educational provision, foster and residential care and state benefits.

The programme helps parents to improve a framework of boundaries within which the child learns self-control

Dr Stephen Scott

"Anti-social behaviour is the most enduring human trait after intelligence, you don't grow out of it," said Dr Stephen Scott, who headed the research.

"Ninety per cent of recurring delinquents - by that I mean 17 year olds with three or more offences - had severe anti-social behaviour aged seven or eight.

"Once they get into adolescence, intervention for anti-social behaviour is more or less impossible - or jolly difficult to turn them around," Dr Scott said.

Training

The researchers identified 141 highly anti-social children between the ages of three and eight.

"These children had been excluded from school, their parents were at their wits' end, were hitting them, almost abusing them," Dr Scott said.

Parents need support to be much more widely available before a crisis period is reached

Barnardo's

The parents of 90 of the youngsters were enrolled on a training course - the Incredible Years, devised by American Carolyn Webster-Stretton. The parents of the other 51 received no such training.

In the first half of the course the 90 parents spent six weeks learning how to promote and encourage positive behaviour in their children.

"It's about praising the children when they are doing their homework, eating well, being nice to their brother or sister - there are specific techniques, such as describing what they are doing very specifically."

The next six weeks covered discipline.

"This is about giving clear demands: 'I want you to do this now' and following up with the logical consequences for misbehaviour," Dr Scott said.

"It's about learning how to ignore back-chat - which can be difficult - rather than getting enraged.

"Putting them in a quiet place for a short time is very effective and puts parents back in charge," he said.

Success story

"We saw a big reduction in anti-social behaviour - so something can be done about it by giving parents specific techniques and skills on how to deal with them.

"We actually saw more improvement in the first half of the programme.

"The programme helps parents to improve a framework of boundaries within which the child learns self-control," Dr Scott said.

A spokeswoman for children's charity Barnardo's said: "We are making a very costly mistake in ignoring the needs of parents and children".

"Parents need support to be much more widely available before a crisis period is reached and children start displaying anti-social or criminal behaviour," she said.

Training v drugs

Researchers at the University of Southampton believe parenting programmes can be more affective than drugs in tackling attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.

The researchers devised a parenting programme, where mothers of three-year-old ADHD children were coached in child management techniques.

Symptoms in the children were significantly reduced and parental well-being increased as a result.

The researchers concluded that psycho-stimulant medication, such as the controversial controlled drug Ritalin, was not a necessary part of treatment for pre-school children.

Co-author of the study, Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke, said the research showed evidence of the clinical value of parent training in the treatment of pre-school children with ADHD.

"By providing a basis for more effective parenting we hope this treatment could help both the child and the family cope better with the transition from home to school and therefore avoid the negative cycle linking behavioural difficulty and school failure so common among children with ADHD," Professor Sonuga-Barke said.

The government hopes its Sure Start programme for parents of children under three and Health Action Zones in poorer areas will help reduce social exclusion and improve the chances of the most disadvantaged families.