Effects of a Military Parenting Program on Parental Distress and Suicidal Ideation: After Deployment Adaptive Parenting Tools

Abigail H. Gewirtz*, David S. DeGarmo, Osnat Zamir

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

54 Scopus citations

Abstract

Few studies have examined whether parenting prevention programs might mitigate risk for suicidality in parents, yet parent suicidality is a strong risk factor for offspring suicidality. We report results from a randomized controlled trial of a parenting program for deployed National Guard and Reserve families with a school-aged child. Intent-to-treat analyses showed that random assignment to the parenting program (ADAPT) was associated with improved parenting locus of control (LOC). Improved parenting LOC was concurrently associated with strengthened emotion regulation which predicted reductions in psychological distress and suicidal ideation at 12 months postbaseline. Results are discussed in the context of ongoing efforts to reduce suicide rates in military populations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)S23-S31
JournalSuicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
Volume46
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The American Association of Suicidology.

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