| An increasing number of Asians and Pacific Islanders face child abuse investigations because of their traditional parenting style of corporal punishment. This dissertation attempts to fill the gap in literature by studying factors that influence the effectiveness of a parenting program, DARE To Be You (DTBY), for Asians and Pacific Islanders.;The program, implemented by the Asian Association of Utah, recruited 281 participants and randomly assigned them to treatment and control groups. The program evaluation utilized an experimental design that compared results of treatment and control groups in 16 variables. Evaluation data were collected from participants at pretest, posttest, and 1-year testing. The preliminary evaluation of the DTBY program indicated eight variables with significant results using pretest and posttest. This dissertation study conducted secondary analyses with preexisting DTBY data by examining the relationships between harsh punishment and four independent variables: (a) stress, (b) parental satisfaction, (c) child development, and (d) social skills.;Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated significant treatment effects and sustained results of the DTBY program. Treatment group participants showed significant reductions in corporal punishment and improvement in stress management, parental satisfaction, and children's social skills at posttest and 1-year testing.;Results of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in testing Hypotheses 1 and 2 were not significant. The ANCOVA results indicated that when the variances of covariates (four independent variables) were controlled, the reduction in corporal punishment behaviors was statistically nonsignificant. The ANCOVA results demonstrated the critical contributions of covariates in harsh punishment. Effective parenting programs need to teach multiple parenting skills like stress management, parental satisfaction, child development, and social skills, in addition to the crucial focus of corporal punishment.;Participants' anecdotal assessments described DTBY program effectiveness as a combination of many skills, all motivating them to reduce corporal punishment. Their comments supported other important research findings on factors that influence effectiveness of parenting programs: (a) culturally competent and age-appropriate curriculum, (b) simultaneous training for parents and children, (c) respectful and caring attitudes of trainers, (d) sufficient staff training, and (e) supportive services and incentives for participant retention. |
