This study was to analyze the general trends and the effects of parent education programs in
accordance with operating methods, contents, and goals by using meta-analysis. The subjects
were the studies about the effects of education programs for parents who have young and
school-aged children, 41 and 15 respectively. The results showed that the trends of the operating
methods in both groups did not have many differences. Also, on the contents and goals of the
programs, parenting related factor was treated the most in both groups. Second, the overall
effects of the parent education programs were higher on those for parents with school-aged
children than parents with young children. When parents together, not separately, participated
in program, the effect size was the largest. However, the effects of other operating methods
factors like number of subjects, hours per session, and number of sessions showed inconsistent
results. On the effects of contents and goals, the effect of self-system competency factor as
psychological characteristics was the highest in the programs for parents with young children
and the effect of parenting competency factor was the highest for the ones with school-aged
children. This study has implications for providing basic data for developing effective programs
for parents with young and school-aged children.