The Connection Between Parental Sense of Competence and Support in Early and Preschool Children’s Upbringing / Povezanost doživljaja roditeljske kompetentnosti i podrške u odgoju djece rane i predškolske dobi
Authors: Fotez Lidija , Brajša-Žganec Andreja 
Published: January 2021

The perception of parenthood is observed through parental attitudes and beliefsabout children and parenting. The aim of this study is to examine the relationshipbetween how parents perceive their own parental competencies (parental selfefficacy,parental internal and external locus of control) and social support ofclose people (friends, family and significant others), according to sex and parentaleducation. The study involved 194 subjects, 148 mothers and 46 fathers. A weakconnection was found between parental self-efficacy and social support. Parentswho perceive to be more self-effective estimate that they also receive more supportfrom their environment and vice versa. No statistically significant difference wasfound in the perception of parental competence and the perception of social supportwith regard to sex, but the difference was found in parental self-efficiency and theexternal locus of control depending on the level of education. Parents with lowerand high school education perceive themselves to be more self-effective in theparental role and have a larger external locus of control, compared to academicallyeducated parents. In conclusion, it is important to recognize parents with low selfefficacy,i.e. lower parental competence, as well as those who estimate that theyhave little support from their environment, and to direct them to the possibilitiesof increasing parental competence.Keywords: parental competence; parental self-efficacy, parental internal and externallocus of control; mothers; fathers; perceived social support. - Doživljaj roditeljstva promatra se kroz roditeljske stavove i uvjerenja o djecii roditeljstvu. Cilj je istraživanja ispitati povezanost doživljaja roditeljskekompetentnosti (roditeljska samoefikasnost, roditeljski internalni i eksternalni lokuskontrole) sa socijalnom podrškom bliskih osoba (prijatelji, obitelj i značajni drugi)s obzirom na spol i stupanj obrazovanja roditelja. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 194ispitanika, 148 majki i 46 očeva. Utvrđena je slaba povezanost između roditeljskesamoefikasnostii socijalne podrške. Roditelji koji sebe doživljavaju samoefikasnijimaprocjenjuju da i primaju više podrške iz svoje okoline i obratno. Nije pronađenastatistički značajna razlika po spolu u doživljaju roditeljske kompetentnosti ipercepciji socijalne podrške, no razlika je utvrđena u roditeljskoj samoefikasnosti iroditeljskom eksternalnom lokusu kontrole ovisno o stupnju obrazovanja. Roditeljinižega i srednjega stupnja obrazovanja percipiraju se samoefikasnijim u roditeljskojulozi te imaju veći eksternalni lokus kontrole u odnosu na više i visokoobrazovaneroditelje. Zaključno, važno je prepoznati roditelje s niskom samoefikasnosti,odnosno nižom roditeljskom kompetentnosti, kao i one koji procjenjuju malopodrške iz svoje okoline te ih usmjeriti kako povećati roditeljsku kompetentnost.Ključne riječi: majke; očevi; percipirana socijalna podrška; roditeljski internalni ieksternalni lokus kontrole; roditeljska kompetentnost; roditeljska samoefikasnost.