Parenting issues and behaviour problems of young children in a community sample

Forty parents of children aged between 1 and 8 years were recruited by mean s of an exhaustive telephone survey of a defined suburban area in regional Queensland. Following recruitment, parents were mailed a family survey comp rising measures of parenting and child behaviour problems. The sample repre sents almost 50% of parents of young children in the defined area. Forty-fo ur per cent of parents in the sample reported numbers of child behaviours a s problems that exceeded recommended clinical cut-off scores based on data reported in other studies. Thirty per cent of parents reported problems occ urring at an intensity that exceeded clinical cut-off scores. Fathers who c ompleted the questionnaires reported significantly more problems than mothe rs, although the ratio of mothers to fathers in the sample was 3:1. However , there was no difference between the reported behaviours of boys or girls. Parent characteristics that were highly correlated with reported child beh aviour problems were overreactivity; stress, anxiety, and depression; and p arental satisfaction with their parenting style. Family and other demograph ic variables appeared to play less significant roles. The results are discu ssed in the context of the challenge of delivering effective early-interven tion parenting programs to large numbers of parents.