Parents' Differential Susceptibility to a Randomized Controlled Microtrial: The Role of Physiological Signals as Underlying Mechanism

Parenting behavior assessed with the short version of the Parental Behavior Scale (PBS-S) at pretest, posttest and follow-up

Time Frame: Parenting change: baseline (pretest), after 2 weeks (posttest), and after 4 weeks (follow-up)

This questionnaire consists of 25 items and comprises five subscales: Positive parenting (e.g., "I make time to listen to my child, when he/she wants to tell me something"), Discipline (e.g., "When my child has been disobedient, I give him/her a chore as punishment"), Harsh Punishment (e.g., "I spank my child when he/she is disobedient or naughty"), Material Rewarding (e.g., "I give my child candy as a reward for good behavior"), and Rule Setting (e.g., "I teach my child to be polite at school"). A 5-point scale is provided for each item, ranging from 1 = (almost) never to 5 = (almost) always.

Parental self-efficacy beliefs assessed with the General Scale of Parental Self-Efficacy Beliefs (GSPSEB) at pretest, posttest and follow-up

Time Frame: Parenting change: baseline (pretest), after 2 weeks (posttest), and after 4 weeks (follow-up)

This 25-item scale is related to five domain-specific SEB factors: Discipline, Nurturance, Playing, Instrumental Care, and Teaching. Self-efficacy beliefs in parenting can be evaluated as a quantitative construct by asking parents their beliefs in specific parenting activities, such as teaching, playing, providing instrumental care, nurturing or disciplining their child. Items are in the form of affirmatives, for example: ''I am able to sense when my child is starting to become distressed'' for the Nurturance subscale. The items will be rated on a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree).

Observed parenting behavior assessed with the Crowell Parent-Child interaction taks at pretest and posttest

Time Frame: Parenting change: baseline/pretest observation at lab (before intervention) and posttest observation at same labvisit (after intervention)

The Crowell observation task takes 20 minutes to complete and consists of four episodes: warm-up, free play, frustration task, and recovery time. The parent scales (i.e., positive affect, autonomy support, negative affect, withdrawal, controlling behavior and laxness/inconsistent) are each internally consistent and well-defined conceptually. High internal consistency for each scale provides support for the reliability of the rating scale, and suggests that the Crowell scores can be useful as scale to measure caregiver responsiveness, but also collectively as a total score assessing overall relational functioning.