Mothers' expectancies and young adolescents' perceived physical competence: A yearlong study

Perceived physical competence can be an important predictor of the physical activity behavior of children and adolescents. Parental socialization practices can be instrumental in shaping children's perceptions of competence in various domains and this socialization effect might occur in relation to parental expectancies. Investigated in this study was the role of mothers' expectancies in shaping their child's perceived physical competence. Data were obtained from 156 French children and young adolescents and their mothers. Structural equation modeling revealed that mothers' perceptions of their child's physical competence predicted their child's own perceived physical competence I year later independent of the child's previously demonstrated physical ability and the child's initial level of perceived competence. Child's gender moderated the relation as mothers' perceptions of their daughters' competence were related significantly to their child's perceived competence, but that relation was not present between mothers and sons.