Parental self-efficacy of future parents and some of its determinants

Roditeljska je samoefikasnost uvjerenje roditelja u vlastitu sposobnost uspješnog obavljanja roditeljske uloge i veže se uz lakši prijelaz u roditeljsku ulogu. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati roditeljsku samoefikasnost budućih roditelja koji očekuju prvo dijete te neke njezine odrednice: sociodemografska obilježja, znanje o djetetovom razvoju, izvore informiranja o roditeljstvu i razvoju djece, rana životna iskustva i socijalnu podršku. Provedeno je jednokratno korelacijsko istraživanje na prigodnom uzorku od 252 buduća roditelja koji očekuju prvo dijete. Budući roditelji popunjavali su Skalu osjećaja roditeljske kompetentnosti (Johnston i Mash, 1989), Inventar znanja skrbnika o razvoju djeteta (Ertem i sur., 2007), Skalu ranih životnih iskustava (Gilbert, Cheung, Grandfield, Campey i Irons, 2003), Višedimenzionalnu skalu percipirane socijalne podrške (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet i Farley, 1988), upitnik informiranja o roditeljstvu i razvoju djece te upitnik sociodemografskih podataka konstruirane za potrebe istraživanja. Rezultati su pokazali da budući roditelji doživljavaju umjereno izraženu roditeljsku samoefikasnost, pri čemu nije utvrđena značajna razlika u roditeljskoj samoefikasnosti između budućih majki i očeva. Kao značajne odrednice roditeljske samoefikasnosti budućih roditelja pokazali su se informiranje o roditeljstvu i razvoju djece kroz osobna iskustva te rana životna iskustva roditelja, kojima je objašnjeno 14,7% varijance roditeljske samoefikasnosti. Više informiranja o roditeljstvu i razvoju djece kroz osobno iskustvo, kao i manje negativnih ranih životnih iskustava, doprinose većoj roditeljskoj samoefikasnosti budućih roditelja.Parental self-efficacy is a parent's belief in own ability to successfully perform the parental role, and it is related with easier transition into the parental role. The aim of this study was to examine the parental self-efficacy of future parents who are expecting their first child and some of its determinants: sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge of child development, sources of information about parenting and child development, early life experiences and social support. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenient sample of 252 future parents who are expecting their first child. Future parents completed The Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (Johnston and Mash, 1989), the Caregiver Knowledge of Child Development Inventory (Ertem et al., 2007), The Early Life Experiences Scale (Gilbert, Cheung, Grandfield, Campey and Irons, 2003), The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet and Farley, 1988), a questionnaire on sources of information about parenting and child development and a sociodemographic questionnaire constructed for purposes of this study. The results showed that future parents experinece moderate parental self-efficacy, with no significant difference in parental self-efficacy between future mothers and fathers. Significant determinants of parental self-efficacy of future parents were informing about parenting and child development through personal experiences and parents' early life experiences, which explained 14.7% of the variance of parental self-efficacy. More informing about parenting and child development through personal experience as well as less negative early life experiences contribute to the greater parental self-efficacy of future parents