Parental Stress and Alcohol Consumption on Parental Self-Efficiency

One focus of parenting research examines parental self-efficacy. Previous research in this area has documented a relationship between parental self-efficacy and stress. Variables such as child behavior, family income have been examined as potential stressors that impact a parent’s stress and alcohol consumption. Increased alcohol consumption has been correlated with increased levels of parental stress. Alcohol consumption is a stress reducing behavior; the more stress parents have, the more likely they will consume alcohol to help alleviate that stress. Although existing research has examined stress and alcohol consumption as potential predictors of parental self-efficacy independently, little research has looked at these two variables together. The purpose of the current study is to look at the relationship among parental stress, alcohol consumption and parental self-efficacy simultaneously. I t is hypothesized that the higher the stress level and more alcohol consumed, the lower parental self-efficacy will be. Seventy five students at California State University, San Bernardino will be recruited for this project; either they will be a parent of at least one child complete the survey instrument. Participants will complete the Parenting Stress Scale, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, The Self-Efficacy for Parenting Task Index, and a demographics questionnaire. Simultaneous regression analyses will be utilized to test the primary hypothesis for this study