Perceived Energy for Parenting: A New Conceptualization and Scale

Abstract

Parenting may be the most physically and mentally demanding social role people encounter during their life. Personal resources are essential to child rearing, yet perceptions of parenting energy have been largely unexplored. This manuscript reports on the need for and development of a measure of perceived energy for parenting (PEP), as well as a preliminary study examining its reliability and validity. A 10-item self-report questionnaire was created to assess perceived energy for parenting. The survey was administered to a sample of 170 mothers. To examine the convergent and discriminant validity of PEP, mothers also completed measures of physical activity, exercise, mood, self-esteem, parental self-efficacy and satisfaction. Analyses indicated that PEP assessed a single underlying dimension, yielding an internally consistent scale. PEP uniquely contributed to predicting parental perceived efficacy and satisfaction. The PEP appears to be a useful tool for assessing meaningful individual differences among parents. Evidence was found for its convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. Future research is necessary to examine the contribution perceived energy for parenting makes to important parenting behaviors such as sensitivity, monitoring, and discipline.

The Psychological Availability of Dual‐Earner Parents for Their Children After Work

“…Instead of examining a single work aspect, we showed that work‐related negative mood (e.g., MacEwen & Barling, ), rumination on work problems (e.g., Carlson & Frone, ), and decreased energy due to a demanding workday (e.g., Crouter et al, ) were all related to the quality of parent–child interactions, mediated by the parent's decreased psychological availability for the child. In addition, the results extend prior research by showing that parents' psychological availability also explained how work‐related positive mood and vigor (Janisse et al, ) were associated with enhanced positive interactions with the child. This is one of the first studies to look at the positive effects of parental work on parent–child interactions, showing that the parent–child relationship can actually benefit from parental work experiences.…”

“…However, Cummings, Davies, and Campbell (2000) showed that positive mood in general was related to the quality of parent -child interactions. Furthermore, Janisse, Barnett, and Nies (2009) found that in contrast to exhaustion, increased energy (referred to as vigor) in general was related to parental efficacy. This suggests that increased energy or vigor as a result of the workday (Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2005) can boost the parent -child relationship after work.…”

Parenting in the Context of Chronic Pain

“…Difficulties expressing warmth and affection when experiencing pain have been reported by individuals with chronic pain—and this difficulty has been noted by their family members as well [20, 39]. Further, consistency in parenting can require considerable cognitive resources and energy, in addition to adequate supervision and monitoring [40, 41]. The physical, cognitive, and emotional demands of chronic pain may make it difficult for parents to consistently supervise and direct their children’s behavior.…”

O sofrimento do regresso ao trabalho após a licença parental

“…A transição para a parentalidade marca um período de reorganização do ciclo de vida das famílias, que representa intenso stress na vida dos indivíduos e acarreta inúmeras aprendizagens. Pode constituir-se como um dos mais exigentes e desa adores papéis sociais que os indivíduos encontram nas suas vidas (Janisse, Barnett, & Nies, 2009), dado que invoca um conjunto de respostas (comportamentais, cognitivas e emocionais) que vulgarmente não integram o seu repertório cognitivo, exigindo, por isso, a implementação de esforços adaptativos suscetíveis de produzir descompensação e aquisição de vulnerabilidades. Apesar de ser tradicionalmente associada a sentimentos positivos de alegria e satisfação, através da qual se atinge a realização pessoal e se completa a pessoa enquanto ser humano (Relvas, 2004), e ser encarada, por muitos, como uma oportunidade de desenvolvimento, esta vivência transicional é também considerada como um momento de crise, devido às muitas alterações ocorridas e à possibilidade de, no decurso deste processo, estar alterada a capacidade de autodeterminação dos pais, de gestão das suas necessidades e de construção de respostas adaptativas, representando um risco para a sua saúde e bem-estar, assim como para o saudável desenvolvimento físico e emocional da criança (Brazelton, 2007;Gage, Everett, & Bullock, 2006).…”