Measuring Multidimensional Parental Self-Efficacy of Mothers and Fathers of Children Ages 1.5 and 3 Years

Parental (or parenting) self-efficacy (PSE) has been described as parents' self-referent estimations of their competence in the parental role and as parents' perceptions of their ability to positively influence the behaviors and development of their children (Coleman & Karraker, 1998; Junttila, 2010; Teti & Gelfand, 1991). The expectations of the role of parenting are assumed to be strongly linked with the cultural and family contexts and may therefore be difficult or even impossible to study using measurements developed among other cultural contexts. In this study, we aimed to frame issues related to the measurement of PSE, the developmental pathways of PSE, and individual as well as interparental variables related to PSE. In sum, we focused on measurement validity and reliability, long-term stability, interparental differences, and psychosocial problems related to the PSE of Finnish mothers' and fathers' of toddlers.As Ardelt and Eccles (2001) noted, PSE involves the beliefs parents embrace to influence their children's behaviors and the environment to support their children's development. During toddlerhood and early childhood, these beliefs may include, for example, the parents' sense of competence in supporting the child's emotional needs, promoting structure and discipline through daily routines, and providing opportunities to learn new things. Based on de Montigny and Lacharite's (2005) content analysis of research on perceived parental efficacy, there are four contributors to this phenomenon: "positive enactive mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and an appropriate physiological and affective state" (p. 387). They defined perceived parental efficacy as the "beliefs or judgments a parent holds of their capabilities to organize and execute a set of tasks related to parenting a child" (de Montigny & Lacharite, 2005, p. 387). Research has shown that PSE is a major determinant of competent and influential parenting behaviors and therefore an important element in children's well-being and healthy development (e.g., Sevigny & Loutzenhiser, 2009). Based on a number of previous studies, PSE has an important mediational role in linking distinct parental personal factors, as well as behavioral, coparental, child, and situational factors (Biehle & Mickelson, 2011; Teti & Gelfand, 1991); for example, Junttila, Vauras, and Laakkonen (2007) found PSE to be a mediator between parents' loneliness and their child's social and academic competence in the school environment. Parents with higher PSE are more likely to use adequate parenting strategies, which in turn increase the likelihood that their children will succeed in social, academic, and interpersonal domains (Junttila et al., 2007). Associations between higher levels of PSE and better adjustment and compliance, greater enthusiasm, and low avoidance and negativity among toddlers have also been reported (Coleman & Karraker, 2003). Studies have shown that low PSE seems to be correlated with parental depression, anxiety, defensive and controlling parental strategies, high levels of parental stress, passive coping and feelings of helplessness in the parenting role, and the use of punitive disciplinary techniques (Jones & Prinz, 2005; Salonen et al., 2009; Wernand, Kunseler, Oosterman, Beekman, & Schuengel, 2014). Most of these results were derived from cross-sectional studies. Among studies that have adapted longitudinal data, Wernand et al. (2014) found that during the course of pregnancy, depression, anxiety, and PSE were strongly linked, but only anxiety symptoms predicted later PSE. Jones and Prinz (2005) stated that it was unclear whether PSE functioned consistently as an antecedent or contributor to parental depression, as a consequence of parental depression, or in a transactional relationship with parental depression.Biehle and Michelson (2011) reported an interesting coparent effect of PSE and depression. …