An examination of parental self-efficacy among mothers and fathers.

Abstract

Sevigny and Loutzenhiser, in their 2010 examination of parental self-efficacy (PSE) in fathers, did not identify data supporting the importance of self-efficacy beliefs in the paternal parenting role. However, a task-specific measure of PSE was used, and because the tasks mothers and fathers typically perform differ, task-specific measures may not be applicable to both mothers and fathers. The present study addressed this limitation by using a domain PSE measure (where specific tasks are not identified) in a sample of 49 mothers and 33 fathers of 3- to 5-year-old children. Parents also completed measures of constructs purported to be associated with PSE including: general self-efficacy (GSE), parenting behavior, affect, and child behavior problems. Results indicated that PSE was significantly and positively associated with, and predicted by, GSE for both mothers and fathers, suggesting one’s general sense of competence is important for both maternal and paternal PSE beliefs. Findings also indicated that maternal PSE was predicted by hostile or coercive parenting behaviors and child behavior problems, whereas supportive or engaged parenting behaviors emerged as the only other variable to predict paternal PSE. Results also suggested that previously used measurement strategies of paternal self-efficacy may have identified tasks more applicable to mothers than fathers.

Over-time associations among parental self-efficacy, promotive parenting practices, and adolescents’ externalizing behaviors.

“…Mothers might be more involved in these specific behaviors than are fathers, and therefore their PSE might be more strongly related to such parenting practices than are fathers' PSE. Fathers' PSE has, instead, been associated with fathers' exertion of control (Murdock, 2012), suggesting that among fathers, PSE might be more strongly linked to practices aiming at disciplining or correcting the child than to behaviors similar to those used in this study.…”

“…When comparisons have been made, the results have shown that children's problematic behaviors are linked more strongly to mothers' PSE than to fathers' PSE (Meunier & Roskam, 2009;Murdock, 2012;Slagt et al, 2012). One explanation offered for this difference concerns the level of involvement in child rearing activities.…”

“…One explanation offered for this difference concerns the level of involvement in child rearing activities. Despite increasing paternal involvement in direct caregiving of children (Murdock, 2012), mothers still report spending more time with their adolescents than fathers do (Phares, Fields, & Kamboukos, 2009). With more involvement there is an increased likelihood of experiencing different child behaviors and to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of one's parenting practices from these behaviors.…”

“…To test the theoretical processes we performed Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Mplus 7.11 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2012 To test the measurement models, we performed two Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFAs), each including one of the two PSE measures, promotive parenting, and adolescents' externalizing. As a first step, we fitted null models, which are models in which no covariances among the variables, means, or variances are estimated or allowed to be different over time; these are, thus, the worst fitting models and can be used as comparisons when examining factorial invariance.…”

Parental Self-Efficacy and Bullying in Elementary School

“…This particular variable has been the focus of extensive research, demonstrating its robust protective and adaptive impact on parenting (Giallo, Treyvaud, Cooklin, & Wade, 2013;Murdock, 2013); parent functioning (Bloomfield & Kendall, 2012;Kendall, Bloomfield, Appleton, & Kitaoka, 2013;Leahy-Warren, McCarthy, & Corcoran, 2012); and, most importantly, improvements in children's social, physical, and academic wellbeing (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996;Leahy-Warren et al, 2012;Sanders & Woolley, 2005;Shumow & Lomax, 2002).…”