Parent-focused intervention: diffusion effects on siblings.

This study examined whether intervention provided to parents of firstborn children produced delayed benefits for later-born children. We studied younger siblings of children in the Yale Child Welfare Project, a family support program previously shown to result in better school adjustment for the firstborns. Information was obtained from the siblings' teachers and school records for 3 academic years. As was true for the older children, intervention group siblings had better school attendance than did control group siblings, were less likely to need supportive or remedial services, and were more likely to be making normal school progress. The results suggest that changes in the caregiving environment resulting from early family support lead to benefits for all the family's children. Parent-focused programs thus appear to provide a particularly efficient strategy for intervention efforts.