McIntyre, Laura LeePompan, Emily2024-12-192024-12-192024-12-19https://hdl.handle.net/1794/30301Social-emotional development is foundational to learning and has been linked to long-term academic, behavioral and mental health outcomes for children (i.e., Jones et al., 2015). In early childhood, social-emotional development is encouraged primarily through familial relationships. Children with developmental delays and disabilities (DD) are more likely to experience social-emotional delays which can impact participation in these everyday interactions and opportunities for learning. Families with children with DD may face additional stressors which compete with resources and opportunities for relationship-enhancing interactions, further impacting child social-emotional development (Chan & Neece, 2018). Parent-mediated interventions have been linked to gains in child social-communication and behavior (Stahmer & Pellecchia, 2015; Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2010; Wetherby et al., 2014), which may facilitate positive parent-child interactions. Such interventions may also support parent and family well-being. Less is known about the mechanism through which parent-mediated interventions impact child social-emotional outcomes for children with DD. The present study of 180 caregivers enrolled in a primary prevention RCT examined (1) how positive feelings and attitudes (PFA) about their parenting role relate to parenting behaviors during parent-child play, (2) change in the context of parent-mediated early intervention, and (3) predict social-emotional outcomes at school-age for toddlers with DD. Analyses included confirmatory factor analyses and latent growth models within a structural equation modeling framework. Results identified parent-mediated intervention as a mechanism for change in parenting play behavior and showed positive PFA as a predictor for school-age social interaction outcome. The significance of findings, study limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Developmental delayParent-child interactionParent-mediated interventionParentingSocial skillsStudent-teacher relationshipElectronic Thesis or Dissertation