Parents are people too: The importance of parental psychological flexibility
Abstract
The target article (Kirby, 2016) proposes that we add the promotion of mindful, psychologically flexible, pro-social values to positive parenting programs. These programs intend to create more nurturing environments through the goal of promoting and reinforcing pro-social behavior, minimizing coercion and aggression, and reducing opportunities for problem behavior. This goal, the article argues, will be supported by greater emphasis on mindfulness and compassion. We agree, although we hope our comments might add to the precision and scope of this recommendation. Nurturing environments do not necessarily come naturally. As the target article notes, parenting is much more than simply addressing bad behaviors. The article argues that mindfulness will help parents avoid being reactive, harsh, or impatient and will increase the likelihood that they notice opportunities to reinforce positive steps. Compassion, it is said, will promote acting in line with parenting values, rather than reacting with parental behavior that is punitive or dismissive. The article suggests that both of these processes will be supported by a greater emphasis on psychological flexibility. These are important ideas that are worthy of experimental test, and we agree with their central tenets. Our ability to reference the literature is restricted in this commentary by journal policy, but we also believe that the existing research literature allows a bit more to be said.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Individuals who are more psychologically flexible report better overall well-being.
“Empirical evidence has suggested that individuals who are more psychologically flexible report lower levels of stress, depression [30], anxiety [31], and insomnia [32,33,34], as well as better overall well-being [35,36,37].”
Cites
Williams, K. E., Ciarrochi, J., & Heaven, P. C. L. (2012) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-012-9744-0 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Brown, F. L., Whittingham, K., Boyd, R. N., McKinlay, L., & Sofronoff, K. (2015) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2015.07.001 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Shenk, C. E., Putnam, F. W., Rausch, J. R., Peugh, J. L., & Noll, J. G. (2014) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579413000916 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
The role of mindfulness and compassion in enhancing nurturing family environments.
Kirby, J. N. (2016) · Clinical Psychology Science and Practice · doi:10.1111/cpsp.12149 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Brown, F., Whittingham, K., & Sofronoff, K. (2015) · Journal of Pediatric Psychology · doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsu109 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Can Behavior Analysis Help Us Understand and Reduce Racism? A review of the Current Literature
Matsuda, K., García, Y., Catagnus, R. M., & Brandt, J. A. A. (2020) · Behavior Analysis in Practice · doi:10.1007/s40617-020-00411-4 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities: A systematic literature review
Gur, A., & Reich, A. (2023) · Research in Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104490 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Kulasinghe, K., Whittingham, K., & Mitchell, A. E. (2021) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361320984625 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Caetano, B., Chorão, A. L., Alves, S., Canavarro, M. C., & Pires, R. (2024) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-024-02451-1 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Bergman, T. H., Renhorn, E., Berg, B., Lappalainen, P., Ghaderi, A., & Hirvikoski, T. (2022) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-022-05490-6 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Kirby, J. N., & Baldwin, S. (2017) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-017-0989-9 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Prevedini, A., Hirvikoski, T., Holmberg Bergman, T., Berg, B., Miselli, G., Pergolizzi, F., & Moderato, P. (2020) · European Journal of Behavior Analysis · doi:10.1080/15021149.2020.1729023 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Kanstrup, M., Jordan, A., & Kemani, M. K. (2019) · Children · doi:10.3390/children6090101 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Chorão, A. L., Canavarro, M. C., & Pires, R. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph192114534 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Ren, X., Ren, X., Yan, Z., Lu, S., & Zhou, X. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph192315788 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Bergman, T. H., Sandred, A., Lindström, T., Lappalainen, P., Ghaderi, A., & Hirvikoski, T. (2024) · Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science · doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2024.100757 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Pan, B., Wang, Y., Xu, P., Gong, Y., Zhao, C., Miao, J., & Li, Y. (2024) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-024-02291-7 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Gleeson, J., Álvarez‐Jiménez, M., Betts, J. K., McCutcheon, L., Jovev, M., Lederman, R., Herrman, H., Cotton, S., Bendall, S., McKechnie, B., et al. (2020) · Early Intervention in Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/eip.13094 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Wang, J., Liu, R., & Lin, J. (2025) · Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health · doi:10.1186/s13034-025-00863-y · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Kabul ve Kararlılık Terapisi ve Psikolojik Esneklik ile İlgili Araştırmaların İncelenmesi
Ulubay, G., & Güven, M. (2022) · The Journal of International Lingual Social and Educational Sciences · doi:10.34137/jilses.1109608 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Gur, A., Mouadeb, D., Reich, A., & Atar, L. (2024) · Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.jbct.2023.100483 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Chong, Y. Y., Kwan, J. Y. M., Yau, P. T., Cheng, H. Y., & Chien, W. T. (2023) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare11202708 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Parents’ Obedience Beliefs and Autonomy Granting: The Role of Child Externalizing and Parent Anxiety
Partain, J. A., Nelson, J. A., & Hafiz, M. (2021) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-021-02087-y · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Jiao, X., Yang, L., & Li, S. (2025) · Nursing Open · doi:10.1002/nop2.70180 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Ding, D., & Fang, S. (2025) · Journal of School Health · doi:10.1111/josh.70040 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Ding, D., & Fang, S. (2025) · Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science · doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2025.100916 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Ding, D., Pan, M., Tang, Q., & Zhang, J. (2024) · Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10862-024-10151-2 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Zhang, Y., Liu, J., Jiang, M., Jia, F., Fang, M., & Liu, D. (2025) · Clinical Psychologist · doi:10.1080/13284207.2024.2447439 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Sena, L. F. D., & Aydın, Y. (2023) · Journal of Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy and Research · doi:10.5455/jcbpr.2049 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Bergman, T. H., Lappalainen, P., Ghaderi, A., & Hirvikoski, T. (2026) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.70282 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Monajati, S., Amini, N., & Jaafarinia, G. (2022) · Iranian Evolutionary Educational Psychology Journal · doi:10.52547/ieepj.4.1.92 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Tilson, C., Khawar, S., & Griffith, A. K. (2025) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-025-03045-8 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Arkaç, C., Çakan, T., Hocaoğlu, Z. M., & Eger, M. (2025) · Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry · doi:10.18863/pgy.1709800
zhang, B., Garandeau, C. F., & Lahtinen, O. (2026) · Family Relations · doi:10.1111/fare.70118
Wang, J., Fang, S., & Li, Z. (2026) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-026-07358-x
Qiao, T., Gan, L., Wang, X., & Ye, P. (2026) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s606669
Li, S., Li, J., Li, Y., & Xie, J. (2026) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.70209
Liu, J., Chen, Z., Li, J., Liu, D., & Wei, X. (2026) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2026.1912741
Ignjatovic, C., Fave, A. D., & Kern, M. L. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1967544
- Authors
- Leeming, E., & Hayes, S. C.
- Venue
- Clinical Psychology Science and Practice
- Published
- 2016-06
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 158-160
- ISSN
- 0969-5893 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2850
- OpenAlex
- W2349995166
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Psychology Science and Practice (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychology and Mental Health
- Keywords
- mindfulness, compassion, Positive Parenting Program, nurturing environment, prosocial values, parental behavior, parental aggression
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
