The KiDS Lab Past Collaborations & Projects

Technology-Enhanced BPT
Efficacy and cost effectiveness of a technology-enhanced service model
Mindful Families
Exploring how parent mindfulness impacts youth & family well-being 
Screen Media Activity
Supporting families to manage youth screen time and explore mechanisms

Technology-Enhanced BPT

Deborah Jones, PhD
PI & Distinguished Term Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
ThThe “Technology to Enhance Treatment for Early Conduct Problems in Low Income Families” study (PI: Deborah Jones, NIH R01MH100377; R34MH829567) aimed to test the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a technology-enhanced service model to enhance the reach and impact of Behavioral Parent Training (BPT).  Dr. Parent began working on this project at the UVM site in 2010 when he was an undergraduate and has learned so much over the past 13+ years! The KiDS lab is currently involved in secondary data analysis projects. 
Rex Forehand, PhD
Co-I & University Distinguished Professor of Psychological Science at the University of Vermont
Publications (with KiDS lab involvement)
  • Parent, J., Highlander, Loiselle, R., Yang, Y., McKee, L. G., Forehand, R., & Jones, D. J. (in press). Technology-enhanced BPT for early-onset behavior disorders: Improved outcomes for children with co-occurring internalizing symptoms. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2023.2222391. PDF
  • Parent, J., Jones, D. J., DiMarzio, K., Yang, Y., Wright, K., Sullivan, A., & Forehand, R. (2023). The effects of young children’s callous-unemotional traits on behaviorally observed outcomes in a standardized and technology-enhanced behavioral parent training. Research on Child & Adolescent Psychopathology, 51, 165–175. doi: 10.1007/s10802-022-00979-1. PDF
  • Parent, J., Anton, M., Loiselle, R., Highlander, A., Breslend, N., Forehand, R., Hare, M., Youngstrom, J., A., & Jones, D. J. (2022). A randomized controlled trial of technology-enhanced behavioral parent training: Sustained parent skill use and child outcomes at follow-up. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63, 992-1001. doi:10.1111/jcpp.13554. PDF
  • Jones, D. J., Anton, M., Gonzalez, M., Honeycutt, A., Khavjou, O., Forehand, R., & Parent, J. (2015). Incorporating mobile phone technologies to expand evidence-based care. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 22, 281-290. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpra.2014.06.002. PDF
  • Jones, D. J., Forehand, R., Cuellar, J., Parent, J., Honeycutt, A., Khavou, O., Gonzalez, M., & Anton, M. (2014). Technology-enhanced program for child disruptive behavior disorders: Development and pilot randomized control trial. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 43, 88-101. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2013.822308. PDF​
  • ​Jones, D.J., Forehand, R., Cuellar, J., Kincaid, C., Parent, J., Fenton, N., & Goodrum, N. (2013).  Harnessing innovative technologies to advance children’s mental health:  Behavioral parent training as an example.  Clinical Psychology Review, 33, 241-252. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.11.003. PDF

Mindful Families

NICHD-funded NRSA F31HD082858
Parental mindfulness facilitates positive child psychosocial development through three interrelated paths:
  1. Enhancing in parental well-being (e.g., self-nourishing attention, reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms, and/or reductions in parenting stress)
  2. Improvements in interparental relationship quality (e.g., increases in relationship satisfaction, increases in co-parenting support, and decreases in conflict)
  3. Increases in adaptive parenting (e.g., reductions in parental reactivity within parent-child interactions, and increases in positive and decreases in negative parenting)​
Publications (with KiDS lab involvement)
  • DiMarzio, K., Peisch, V., Acosta, J., Dale, C., Gutierrez, J., & Parent, J. (2022). Keeping your coparent in mind: A longitudinal investigation of mindfulness in the family system. Family Process, 62, 808-822. doi: 10.1111/famp.12702. PDF
  • Parent, J., Dale, C. F., McKee, L. G., & Sullivan, A. D.W. (2021). The longitudinal influence of caregiver dispositional mindful attention on mindful parenting, parenting practices, and youth psychopathology. Mindfulness, 2, 357–369. doi: 10.1007/s12671-020-01536-x. PDF
  • Han, Z.R., Ahemaitijiang, N., Yan, J., Hu, X., Parent, J., Dale, C. F., DiMarzio, K., & Singh, N.N. (2021). Parent mindfulness, parenting and child psychopathology in China. Mindfulness, 12, 334-343. doi: 10.1007/s12671-019-01111-z. PDF
  • Parent, J., & DiMarzio, K. (2021). Advancing mindful parenting research: An introduction. Mindfulness, 2, 261–265. doi: 10.1007/s12671-020-01572-7. PDF
  • McKee, L. G., Parent, J., Zachary, C. R., & Forehand, R. (2018). Mindful parenting and emotion socialization practices: Concurrent and longitudinal associations. Family Process, 57, 752-766. doi: 10.1111/famp.12329. PDF
  • Parent, J., McKee, L. G., Anton, M., Gonzalez, M., Jones, D. J., & Forehand, R. (2016). Mindfulness in parenting and coparenting. Mindfulness, 7, 504-513. doi: 10.1007/s12671-015-0485-5. PDF
  • Parent, J., McKee, L. G., Rough, J. N., & Forehand, R. (2016). The association of parent mindfulness with parenting and youth psychopathology across three developmental stages. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 44, 191-202. doi: 10.1007/s10802-015-9978-x. PDF
  • Parent, J., Clifton, J., Forehand, R., Reid, M., Golub, A., & Pichler, E. R. (2014). Parental mindfulness and dyadic relationship quality in Black cohabiting stepfamilies: Associations with parenting experienced by adolescents. Couple and Family Psychology: Research & Practice, 3, 67-82. doi: 10.1037/cfp0000020. PDF
  • Parent, J., Garai, E., Forehand, R., Roland, E., Champion, J. E., Haker, K., Hardcastle, E. J., & Compas, B. E. (2010). Parent mindfulness and child outcome: The roles of parent depressive symptoms and parenting. Mindfulness, 1, 254-264. doi:10.1007/s12671-010-0034-1. PDF​

Screen Media Activity

​Today’s youth are engaging in unprecedented levels of screen media activity. The KiDS Lab has explored multiple areas in this emerging science:
  1. Mechanisms linking screen time with youth well-being.
  2. For whom screen media activity has a detrimental impact on youth development. 
  3. A family-based single-session preventative intervention targeting youth screen time and family functioning. 
Publications (with KiDS lab involvement)
  • Rojo-Wissar, D., Acosta, J., DiMarzio, K., Hare, M., Dale, C., Sanders, W., & Parent, J. (in press). The role of sleep in the longitudinal association between screen media activity and youth behavioral health. Child and Adolescent Mental Health. doi:10.1111/camh.12665. PDF
  • Sanders, W., Parent, J., Abaied, J. L., Forehand, R., Coyne, S., & Dyer, W. J. (2018). The longitudinal impact of screen time on adolescent development: Moderation by respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Journal of the Adolescent Health, 63, 459-465. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.05.019. PDF
  • Sanders, W., Parent, J., & Forehand, R. (2018). Parenting to reduce child screen time: A feasibility pilot study. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 39, 46-54. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000501. PDF
  • Sanders, W., Parent, J., Forehand, R., & Breslend, N. L. (2016). The roles of general and technology-specific parenting in managing youth screen time. Journal of Family Psychology, 30, 641-646. doi: 10.1037/fam0000175. PDF
  • Parent, J., Sanders, W., & Forehand, R. (2016). Youth screen time and behavioral health problems: The role of sleep duration and disturbances. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 37, 277-284. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000272. PDF
  • Sanders, W., Parent, J., Forehand, R., Sullivan, A. D. W., & Jones, D. J. (2016). Parent perceptions and technology-related parenting: Associations with youth screen time. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 44, 28-38.  doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2016.02.005. PDF