The multicultural nature of Malaysian parents expectedly gives rise to heterogenous parenting practices. Despite this heterogeneity, the country’s common collectivistic background that values familism may have shaped parenting behaviours. Since there is a great influence of culture on parenting, there appears to be a need to explore the Malaysian way of parenting. This review aimed to assess, synthesise, and organise the available research evidence on parenting behaviours and parent-child interactions in Malaysia. Recent publications from 2002 to 2021 were examined using a narrative approach. A literature search was conducted using the Scopus, Dimensions.ai, Google Scholar databases, and citation tracking using keywords such as parenting style, parenting, parent-child interaction, parent-child relation, and childrearing. Twenty-four papers on parenting styles, 13 on parenting practices, and 19 on parent-child interactions were included for review. The majority of the studies were quantitative and published in the last couple of years. While findings revealed diverse parenting styles in the country, culturally-conformed parenting behaviours are thought to be more effective than the standard authoritative parenting. Recommendations are made for future research.

Parenting programs often train parents in improving their parenting practices and parent-child relationship to reduce behavioral problems in children. However, the children’s prosocial behaviors are less examined as an intervention outcome in these programs. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Incredible Years parenting program (IYPP) for Malaysian parents of school-going children and its sustainability in improving the children’s prosocial behaviors. This randomized controlled study involved pre- and post-intervention assessments at 2 and 14 weeks. Mothers of children aged 6-12 years (n = 70) recruited through the pediatrics and the child and adolescent psychiatric clinics were randomly assigned to the parenting program or a waitlist control condition. The mothers rated their children’s prosocial behaviors using a self-administered questionnaire. The program ran two to three hours weekly for 14 weeks. Several modifications were made to the program to accommodate public health control during the pandemic. Children in the intervention group showed a notable but non-significant increase in prosocial skills. However, subsequent score decline at follow-up may suggest a lack of evidence that the program is potentially effective in improving prosocial behaviors among school children who are at risk of or already having behavioral problems.

An adolescent with autism spectrum disorder and improperly treated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder presented with recurrent hair pulling. Treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and stimulant improved these conditions.