Research interests

My research interests broadly involve improving the relationship between children and their families. Research suggests that many childhood problems stem from difficulties in the home, typically beginning early in the child's development. The importance of providing children quality early experiences cannot be overlooked. Therefore, a main focus of my research involves the importance of parenting education for parents of young children. Previous research (see Published Articles) has shown the Parenting Young Children program (formerly the STAR Parenting Program) to be an effective intervention in assisting parents to reduce their reliance on verbal and corporal punishment, increase their positive nurturing behavior and develop more appropriate expectations for their young children. Further, parents have reported reduced stress and aggression and reductions in behavior problems experienced by their young child.

To extend the current literature, my research is now focused on identifying positive, protective factors which can help parents at risk for poor parenting improve their parenting behaviors. By identifying these protective factors, parenting interventions can be tailored to maximize success by utilizing strengths such as hope, resiliency (hardiness), and cultural and spiritual dimensions. Current research projects investigate the relationship between positive, protective factors and parenting in the hopes of better understanding what helps parents succeed.

The Positive Parenting Research Team (PPRT) has two objectives which guide the research process: (1) to assess the relationships between positive psychology and parenting and (2) to promote positive parenting in families of young children. The goal of the PPRT is for each person to gain knowledge and skill in conducting and publishing research on positive psychology and parenting, especially as it informs the continued development of an evidence-based approach to parent training.

The objectives help drive the PPRT research goals:

Become knowledgeable about the Parenting Young Children evidence based parenting program and to support the delivery of the PYC program as a research endeavor through either providing direct parent-training service, or providing support to facilitators as data-collectors and support staff.
Become familiar with the literature base related to the PYC program and contribute to studies related to expanding this base to include predictors of positive outcome.
Become familiar with the literature related to predictors of parenting with an emphasis on positive psychology including, but not limited to, hope, optimism, resilience (e.g., hardiness) and issues of spiritual well being and spiritual coping as they pertain to parenting.
Become familiar with the literature on treatment readiness as it relates parenting stages of change.
Contribute to the development of published research studies and national presentations related to the expanding knowledge of protective factors in parenting young children and treatment readiness in parent training.
Be knowledgeable about the research process, including ethical practices, IRB proposal, thesis and dissertation, manuscript development, and presentations at national conferences.

Please contact Dr. Nicholson for more information about her research interests or to get involved in one of her projects.