Implementing Parent Management Training in the Context of Poverty

Parent management training (PMT) is a well-investigated, effective, and preferred treatment for children's externalizing behaviors and related disorders. Unfortunately, PMT is not as effective for children living in poor families, who disproportionately exhibit the behaviors that PMT is designed to correct. We suggest that PMT is less successful for poor children because (1) the same factors that explain the relation between economic hardship and children's externalizing behaviors also are related to unsuccessful PMT outcomes; and (2) PMT interventions are less acceptable to poor parents, and therefore less likely to be adopted. Clinical implications are drawn from the analysis.