Lifetime Mental Health and Treatment Readiness among Parents of Children with Externalizing Behavior

Abstract Parental lifetime mental disorder symptoms were investigated as a moderator of the association between readiness for treatment and severity of child externalizing behaviors (EB) among 165 parents of clinic-referred children. Readiness and parental mental disorder symptoms were positively associated with greater child EB severity. Mental disorder symptoms moderated the association between parent readiness and child EB, such that among parents with fewer lifetime symptoms, greater readiness for treatment was associated with greater child EB severity. However, readiness was not associated with child EB severity at high levels of parental mental disorder symptoms. Implications for pre-treatment screening and tailoring behavioral parenting treatments are discussed.