Self-efficacy and parenting quality: Findings and future applications

Appreciation for cognitive factors associated with parental competence and satisfaction is increasingly evident in recent developmental research. In particular, parental self-efficacy beliefs have emerged as both a powerful direct predictor of specific positive parenting practices and a mediator of the effects of some of the most thoroughly researched correlates of parenting quality including maternal depression, child temperament, social support, and poverty. Parental self-efficacy beliefs embody an estimation of the degree to which parents perceive themselves as capable of performing the varied tasks associated with this highly demanding role. The overall objective of this review is to synthesize the extant findings related to parental self-efficacy in order to shed light on the importance of the construct for both theoretical and applied purposes. A foundation in self-efficacy theory and general self-efficacy research is offered initially, followed by an exploration of the empirical findings relevant to parenting self-efficacy. Mechanisms through which self-efficacy beliefs are likely to develop and influence parenting are subsequently described. Finally, the possibility of therapeutic intervention designed to alter competency perceptions among parents who are at-risk or who are currently experiencing difficulty in parenting is examined and avenues for future investigative work are suggested. (C) 1998 Academic Press.