The Connection Between Parental Sense of Competence and Support in Upbringing Children of Early and Preschool

Suvremeno roditeljstvo predstavlja kompleksno djelovanje pojedinca u ireverzibilnoj ulozi osjetljivoj na raznolike utjecaje okoline. Kako je postalo jasno da iskustva, pravila i savjeti prijašnjih generacija nisu održivi u novome razdoblju, pitanje roditeljske kompetentnosti preuzelo je primat u interdisciplinarnim raspravama. S obzirom na važnost djetetovih prvih šest godina života, opetovano se naglašava presudnost kvalitete interakcija roditelj-dijete, ne bi li se time umanjilo djelovanje rizičnih čimbenika i povećale šanse za zdrav razvoj djeteta te ispunjujuće roditeljstvo za roditelja. Iako je primarno odgovornost pojedinca u poduzimanju odgovarajućih koraka za povećanje vlastite pedagoške kompetentnosti, socijalna se podrška pokazuje značajnim faktorom u tome procesu. Putovi traženja obično kreću od neformalnih oblika podrške društva, pri čemu je za sagledavanje cjelovitog konteksta socijalne podrške potrebno uzeti u obzir potporu koja dolazi iz svih slojeva ekoloških sustava. U istraživanju su sudjelovala 194 ispitanika, odnosno 148 njih ženskog i 46 muškog spola. Cilj je bio istražiti povezanost doţivljaja roditeljske kompetentnosti sa socijalnom podrškom bliskih osoba te podrškom primljenom iz različitih slojeva ekoloških sustava djeteta s obzirom na spol i stupanj obrazovanja. Temeljem problema istraživanja postavljeno je pet hipoteza. U rezultatima je pronađena slaba povezanost između sastavnice roditeljske kompetentnosti i socijalne podrške, čime je djelomično prihvaćena jedna od hipoteza, dok su ostale odbačene. Nije pronađena statistički značajna razlika po spolu u doţivljaju roditeljske kompetentnosti i percepciji socijalne podrške, no razlika je utvrĎena u doţivljaju roditeljske kompetentnosti ovisno o stupnju obrazovanja. Unutar ekoloških sustava roditelji se ne razlikuju u procjeni primljene podrške, izuzev kod makrosustava kojeg podrţavajućim više vide majke nego očevi. Pronađene su neznatne i slabe korelacije slojeva ekoloških sustava s aspektima roditeljske kompetentnosti (roditeljska samoefikasnost, roditeljski internalni i eksternalni lokus kontrole).Modern parenthood represents complex interaction of individual in the irreversible role that is sensitive to various environmental influences. As it becomes clear that experiences, rules and advices from former generations are not valid in this new era, question of parental competence became the crucial one in interdisciplinary discussions. Considering the importance of the first six years of child’s life, the pertinence of the quality of the interaction parent-child is repeatedly accentuated, to diminish the actions of risk factors and to increase the chances for a child’s healthy development and a sense of the fulfilment for the parent. Even though the primary responsibility of an individual while taking appropriate steps to increase their own pedagogical competence, the social support is shown to be an important factor in the process. The paths in that search often start with the informal form of support from the society and to envision the complete context of social support it is necessary to take into account the support that comes from all layers of the ecological system. In the research participated 194 participants, 148 female and 46 male gender participants. The aim of this research was to examine the connection of parental competence with social support of the close people and support received from different layers of the child’s ecological system while taking into account the gender and educational level. Based on the research problems, five hypotheses were established. In the results, a feeble correlation between the component of the parental competence and the social support was found, that lead to a partial acceptance of one of the hypotheses, while others were rejected. A statistically significant difference by gender in the experience of the parental competence and the perception of social support wasn’t proved, but the difference in the experience of the parental competence depending on the educational level was determined. Inside the ecological systems, parents are not different in the perception of the received social support except in macrosystem that is perceived as supporting more by mothers, than by fathers. There have been found slight and feeble correlations of the layers of the ecological systems with the aspects of the parental competence (parental self-efficiency, parental internal and external locus of control)