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LIBRARY
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This is to certify that the

dissertation entitled

\ Maternal Self-Efficacy, Quatlity of Parenting, and
\Child Developmental Outcome Among Mothers with Young
Children from Early Head Start

presented by

So-Jung Seo

has been accepted towards fulﬁllment
of the requirements for

Ph.D. degreein Family and Child Ecology

mayor pvrofessor

Date [444-7 I;- 1 200.?
r I

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am cJCIHCJDatoDuo.p65-p.15

MATERNAL SELF-EFFICACY, QUATLIY OF PARENTING, AND
CHILD DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOME AMONG MOTHERS WITH YOUNG
CHILDREN FROM EARLY HEAD START
iBy

So-Jung Seo

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
For the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Family and Child Ecology

' 2003

ABSTRACT
MATERNAL SELF-EFFICACY, QUALITY OF PARENTING, AND
CHILD DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOME AMONG MOTHERS WITH YOUNG
CHILDREN FROM EARLY HEAD START
By

So-Jung Seo

This study had several purposes. The ﬁrst objective was to identify which
maternal characteristic variables are related to maternal self-efﬁcacy. The second
objective of this study was to examine maternal self-efﬁcacy (MSES or TCQ) as a
potential mediator of the effects of the maternal characteristics on the quality of
parenting (HOME). The last objective of this study was to examine relationships
among maternal self-efﬁcacy (MSES or TCQ), the quality of parenting (HOME), and
the child developmental outcome (ASQ).

Forty-two mother-young child pairs from Early Head Start participated in this
study. Maternal age, family income, and mothers’ perceived parenting stress (PSI)
were signiﬁcantly related to both MSES and TCQ maternal self-efﬁcacy measures.
Also, maternal age, family income, and mothers’ perceived parenting stress (PSI) were
found to be predictive of MSES scores among mothers with infants. This study failed
to detect the mediation effect of maternal self-efﬁcacy in the relationship between the
maternal characteristic (maternal age) and the quality of parenting (HOME). More
conﬁdent mothers with toddlers tended to have higher scores on the HOME measure
than the less conﬁdent mothers. Even though the regression results should be
interpreted with caution due to the small sample size, this study shed light on the

importance of maternal self-efﬁcacy in that it may have the potential to promote

positive parenting under the stressful environment demands faced by mothers with
young children from high-risk environments. Intervention programs should be designed
tailored to promote maternal self-efﬁcacy through direct child care instruction,
modeling of positive parenting, and opportunities structured to maximize success in the

parenting role.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to acknowledge my sincere gratitude to Dr. Robert Griffore, my major
chair, for his assistance and support with the development of this study. He helped me
immensely in directing my dissertation work as well as my study from the very
beginning of my Ph.D. work at Michigan State University.

I would like to thank my guidance committee members, Dr. Lillian Phenice, Dr.
Tom Luster, and Dr. John Herrick for their contributions of time, comments, and
guidance. Special thanks are extended to the mothers with young children from Early
Head Start, who made this study possible.

My great appreciation goes to my dear parents who offered me tremendous
support, encouragement, and love throughout my years at MSU. I also thank for my
parents-in law for their support and love.

Finally, I would like to offer my special thanks and love to my husband, Han-
Seung Shin. His emotional support, trust, and love gave me the determination to

complete my Ph.D. program and this dissertation.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES.
LIST OF FIGURES. .

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Statement of Problem.
Research Objectives
Significance of Study
Conceptual Framework
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model of
Human Development

Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory
Conceptual Model
Conceptual and Operational Definitions
Assumptions

CHART ER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Focus of the Literature Review
Mediating Role of the Maternal Self-Efficacy
Characteristics of the child
Social and marital supports
Parenting stress
Child age
Knowledge of early child development
Parent satisfaction
Parenting behavior
Inﬂuences on Maternal Self-Efficacy
Child rearing beliefs
Inﬂuences of the demographics
Inﬂuences of parity
Inﬂuences of multiple role strain
Inﬂuences of child care experiences
Issues Related to Measurement of Maternal
Self-Efficacy
The Quality of the Home Environment and Child
Outcome

vi

viii

@MLIIUJI—

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CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY

Research Design
Research Hypotheses
Sampling Selection
Data Collection Procedures
Sampling Description
Research Instruments
Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale
Toddler Care Questionnaire
HOME
Parenting Stress Index
Ages and Stages Questionnaire
Data Analyses

CHAPTER 4
RESULTS

Preliminary Data Analysis
Correlations among the Predictors
Correlations Between Maternal Self-
Efﬁcacy And the Predictor Variables
Differences In the Study Variables
Between the Two Subgroups by Child
Age
Mediational Role of Maternal Self-
Efficacy
Basic descriptive statistics
among the study variables
Correlations among maternal
characteristics, maternal self-
efﬁcacy, and HOME
Multiple regression analyses
Relationships Among Maternal Self-
Efﬁcacy, the HOME and the ASQ
Summary of Results

CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION

Limitations
Directions for Future Research

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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TABLE 1:

TABLE 2:

TABLE 3:

TABLE 4:

TABLE 5:

TABLE 6:

TABLE 7:

TABLE 8:

TABLE 9:

LISTS OF TABLES

Sample Characteristics
Correlations Among the Predictor Variables.

Zero-order and Partial Correlations Among
Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy and the Study Variables
Controlling for Family Income and Family Type.

Zero-order Correlations Among PSI (Full scale),
PSI (DC subscale), MSES, and TCQ

Chi-square Analyses for Differences between
the Mothers with Infants and the Mothers with Toddlers.

T-test for Differences between the Mothers with Infants
and the Mothers with Toddlers

Multiple Regression Analysis: Predictors of Maternal
Self-Efﬁcacy Measured by either Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy
Scale (MSES) or Toddler Care Questionnaire (TCQ).

Multiple Regression Analysis: Predictors of Maternal
Self-Efﬁcacy Measured by either Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy
Scale (MSES) or Toddler Care Questionnaire (TCQ)

Descriptive Statistics for Primary Study Variables.

TABLE 10: Correlations Among Maternal Characteristics,

Maternal Self-Efficacy, and HOME.

TABLE 11: Multiple Regression Analysis: The Mediational Role

of Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy (1‘ CQ) in the Relationship
Between the Maternal Characteristic (maternal age)
and the Quality of Parenting (HOME) .

TABLE 12: Pearson Correlations Among Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy

(measured by Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale, MSES),
the Quality of Parenting (HOME), and the Child
Developmental Outcome (ASQ).

vi

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TABLE 13: Pearson Correlations Among Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy
(measured by Toddler Care Questionnaire),
the Quality of Parenting (HOME), and the Child
Developmental Outcome (ASQ) .

vii

72

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Inﬂuences on Child Development From
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model of
Human Development. . . . . . 11

Figure 2: Proposed Role of Maternal Self-Efficacy In
Mediating the Effect of the Maternal Characteristics
On the Quality of the Home Environment (HOME). . 18

Figure 3: Relationships Among Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy,
HOME, and ASQ . . . . . . 18

viii

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

The family of today has been undergoing major structural changes. Those
structural changes resulted in such signiﬁcant contemporary problems that the number
of single-parent families is increasing, and more and more women are entering the
workforce either by economic necessity or personal preference (Johnson & Mash,
1989). Furthermore, low-income families are more socially and economically
marginalized and disadvantaged, thus weakening their sense of fulﬁllment,
gratiﬁcation, and pleasure from the various dimensions of the parenting process
(Elder, 1995). Parental competence beliefs seem to be particularly important under
such conditions as living in high risk environments because possession of inner
strength based on a sense of personal competence may play a signiﬁcant role as a
buffer against adversity, enabling parents to combat risks and promote their children’s
well-being (Elder, 1995). Parental self-efﬁcacy is viewed as critical in understanding
individual differences in coping with adverse situations (Luster & Rhoades, 1989).

A recently growing parenting literature has revealed that self-efﬁcacy beliefs,
speciﬁc to the domain of parenting, represent potential variables for explaining a
signiﬁcant portion of the variance observed in parental skills (Donovan & Leavitt,
1985; Donavan & Leavitt, 1989) and parenting satisfaction (Hudson, Elek, & F elck,
2001). Grounded in Bandura’s self-efﬁcacy theory, the construct of maternal self-
efﬁcacy, that is a mother’s perceived feeling of conﬁdence in the parenting role, has

been explored to provide our understanding of the determinants of parenting. In

particular, maternal self-efﬁcacy beliefs have been identiﬁed as a direct predictor of
speciﬁc positive parenting practices, such as responsive, stimulating, and non-punitive
caretaking (Donovan & Leavitt, 1985; Donavan & Leavitt, 1989), the ability to attend
to and understand infant signals (Donovan , Leavitt, & Walsh, 1990), more active and
direct parenting interactions (Mash & Johnson, 1983), and a relative absence of
mothers’ perceived behavioral problems (Johnson & Mash, 1989). Furthermore, in
the extant parenting self-efficacy literature, maternal self-efﬁcacy has been established
as a powerful mediator of the effects of some of correlates that have been examined in
relation to parental competency and parenting quality, including maternal depression,
child temperament, social support, and demographics of parents (T eti & Gelfand,
1991; Cutrona & Troutman, 1986; Luster, 1985; Luster & Rhoades, 1989).

Numerous maternal and child factors have been explored as correlates of
maternal self-efﬁcacy in the literature. But these variables are oﬁen correlated with
one another, making it difﬁcult to determine which factors speciﬁcally inﬂuence
maternal self-efﬁcacy (Gross, Conrad, F ogg, & Wothke, 1994). As Coleman and .
Karraker (1997) discussed, to date the existing maternal efﬁcacy literature has not
extensively explored the issues that follow: “What are the maternal personality
characteristics that tend to predispose individuals to high or low self-efﬁcacy? ” “ To
what extent is it possible to have low self-efﬁcacy in some aspects of parenting (e. g.,
speciﬁc tasks related to child rearing practices) but not in the overall parenting job?” “
Are there associations between levels of maternal self-efﬁcacy and other aspects of

their social lives (e.g., employment status, child care experiences, and family/social

support)?”

Little research has examined a broad range of variables that contribute to
maternal self-efﬁcacy. The direct and indirect ramiﬁcations of deﬁciencies in
maternal self-efﬁcacy in the relationship between the quality of parenting and the
child developmental outcome remain largely unexplained, speciﬁcally with a sample
of families living in high-risk environments. Although a few studies have found
associations between maternal self-efﬁcacy and child development in the domains of
socioemotional development (Donovan & Leavitt, 1985; Swick & Hassell, 1990) and
cognitive development of toddlers (Coleman & Trent, Bryan, King, Rogers, & Nazir,
2002), those efforts have been conducted under laboratory testing conditions, lacking

external validity (Coleman et al., 2002).

Statement of the Problem

This study had several primary objectives. First, this study examined several
variables as predictors of maternal self-efﬁcacy among mothers of young children
- (infants to toddlers) from high-risk environments. The maternal characteristics of
interest were: 1) mother’s demographic characteristics such as age, education,
employment status, and parity experiences (the number of children in the household),
2) mother’s perceived parenting stress, and 3) mother’s perceived satisfactions with
contextual factors such as employment, family support, community resources, and
child care experiences. This study examined which maternal characteristics of interest

are predictive of maternal self-efﬁcacy.

This study also examined whether maternal self-efﬁcacy mediates the effects
of maternal characteristics on the quality of parenting (the quality of the home
environment mothers provide, measured by the HOME). To achieve this, the
proposed model of this study was based on the following two positions that: 1)
maternal self-efﬁcacy is a characteristic of the mother and 2) maternal self-efﬁcacy
mediates the effect of the other characteristics of the mother (e.g., maternal
demographics, mothers’ perceived parenting stress, and mothers’ perceived
satisfactions with contextual factors) on the quality of parenting (HOME). This
expectation was consistent with Bandura’s (1995) proposition that self-efﬁcacy is the
mediating link between knowledge and behavior. Also, this attempt was made to
answer the questions about why some mothers felt more likely to be efficacious in the
parenting role than others, and what were the variables that lead to these variances in
maternal self-eﬁicacy in association with the quality of parenting among mothers of
young children receiving Early Head Start beneﬁts. Finally, the relationships among
maternal self-efﬁcacy, the quality of parenting (HOME), and the child developmental
outcome (ASQ) were tested. It was hypothesized that the more conﬁdent mothers
tended to provide better home environments than the less conﬁdent mothers and in
turn, their young children would be more likely to beneﬁt from these circumstances.

The literature has not provided an adequate basis for forming speciﬁc
hypotheses based on child’s age in the relationships of interest in this study. Research
ﬁndings (Gross et al., 1994) have found that the tasks associated with parenting during
toddlerhood change dramatically from the infancy period based on toddlers’ expansion

of their abilities and their environments and parents are forced to develop new

parenting skills. In light of Bandura’s self-efﬁcacy theory and research ﬁndings, the
acquisition of new skills may be greatly enhanced by perceptions of competence in the
parenting role with the developmental advances of their young children (Coleman et
al., 2002). Here, the decision was made to employ the two different measures on
maternal self-efﬁcacy based on child’s age and to observe mothers (as a primary
caregiver) in the relationships of interest, which have not been explored in previous

studies.

Research Objectives

Speciﬁc research objectives were developed as follows:

1. To examine the relations between maternal characteristics of interest and
maternal self-efﬁcacy.

2. To determine what maternal characteristics are predictive of maternal self-
efficacy.

3. To examine maternal self-efﬁcacy as a potential mediator of the effects of the
maternal characteristics of interest on the quality of parenting (HOME).

4. To examine the relationships among maternal self-efﬁcacy, the quality of

parenting (HOME), and the child developmental outcome (ASQ).

Signiﬁcance of the Study
Mothers in a comprehensive early childhood intervention program like Early
Head Start are expected to provide stimulating home environments for their young

children. Examination of mothers’ beliefs and feeling that they are capable of

providing a positive learning environment for their children at home will be of
particular interest to educators or administrators. By ascertaining the mothers’ beliefs
about one’s parenting eﬁicacy, educators can redirect parenting behaviors that
promote children learning at home. Even if mothers feel inefﬁcacious, teachers can
emphasize strengths and suggest ways that parents can teach their young children
(Machida, Talyor, & Kim, 2002). In addition, to policy makers, examination of this
maternal self-efﬁcacy construct is useful if it can be measured as outcomes for the
effectiveness of intervention programs, implying that maternal self-efﬁcacy may be
the signiﬁcant characteristics of families which provide the stimulating learning
environment for young children (Machida, Taylor, & Kim, 2002). Finally,
information from this study adds to the existing literature by highlighting the role of
maternal self-efﬁcacy in mediating the effects of maternal characteristics on the
quality of parenting and understanding the relationships among maternal self-efﬁcacy,

the quality of parenting, and child outcome.

Conceptual Framework
Due to the purposes and objectives of this study, theoretical support for the
proposed model (Figure l) was gleaned from several sources, including
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model (1989,1998), which directs attention to an
awareness of the environmental systems within which people are operating, and
Bandura’s Self-Efﬁcacy Theory, which postulates that self-efﬁcacy beliefs
conceivably affect parenting behavior, but do not appear to represent a simple process,

given the presence of predisposing factors (Bandura, 1995;1997). Components of

these two conceptual frameworks were selected and combined to guide this study.
Each of the conceptual models will be described and selected components identiﬁed.
The proposed conceptual framework will be discussed in detail.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model of Human Development

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model offers a useful context from which to study
inﬂuences on children’s developmental outcomes (Figure l). Bronfenbrenner (1989,
1998) provides insight into the study of human development within a developing
person and the environment that surrounds and interacts with him or her.

His model emphasized the power of the proximal processes that are deﬁned as
interactions in the immediate and intimate environment, speciﬁcally if they occurred
on a regular basis and over an extended period. His model provides the foundation for
understanding family’s inﬂuences on the developmental outcomes of young children.
In Bronfenbrenner’s recent bio-ecological model (1994, 1998), individual differences
in personal characteristics that inﬂuence proximal processes both by enhancing and by
weakening functional competence were emphasized. Furthermore, Bronfenbrenner
and Ceci (1994) discussed that the power of proximal processes to buffer genetic
potentials for developmental dysfunction could be greater in disadvantaged and
disorganized environments than in those that are advantaged and stable. From his
point of view, the intra-familial processes to actualize genetic potentials for
developmental competence can be inﬂuenced by the external environment and the
extent to which the family is capable of creating and sustaining the quality home
learning environment for young children depends on what happens in the other

contexts. In investigating how maternal self-efﬁcacy is related to the effects of

maternal characteristics on the quality of parenting among mothers of young children
from disadvantaged family backgrounds, his model provides useful insights to look at
dynamic interactions between the system of the developing individual and the
surrounding environments. Families and children live in a variety of physical and
social environments.

Bronfenbrenner's (1994) model deﬁnes complex layers of the environment,
each having an effect on a child’s development. In this study the child unit as the
deveIOping individual represents the centric target. The layer closest to the child
represents the microsystem. Bronfenbrenner states that the microsystem is:

" a pattern of activities, social roles, and interpersonal relations experienced by the
developing person in a given face-to-face setting with particular physical, social, and
symbolic features that invite, permit, or inhibit, engagement in sustained,
progressively more complex interaction with, and activity in, the immediate
environment” (Bronfenbrenner, 1994, p.1645).

The microsystem contains the structure with which the child has direct contact. The
microsystem encompasses the relationships and interactions a child has with his or her
immediate surroundings. Structure in the microsystem include family, neighborhood,
or child care environments, but for the young children of this study the microsystem
may be limited to the family contexts where the children spend most of their time.
The family system was examined as a primary context where children’s proximal
processes take place. The quality of parenting (the quality of home environment
mothers provide, HOME) was examined at this level. At this level, relationships have

impact in two directions (both away from the child and toward the child). For

instance, a mother may affect the child’s beliefs and behaviors, but the child also

affects the beliefs and behavior of the mother. At the microsystem level, bi-directional
inﬂuences are strongest and have the greatest impact on the child (Bronfenbrenner &
Morris, 1998).

The mesosystem constitutes the second layer and comprises the linkages and
processes taking place between two or more settings containing the developing person
(Bronfenbrenner, 1994). Child development is inﬂuenced by linkages among
microsystems. For instance, a young child who has established an emotional
attachment to his or her parents in the family system may be well prepared to interact
with other children and other adults in day care settings.

Exosystems are settings that have a bearing on the developing persons (young
children), but in which those persons do not play a direct role. The deﬁnition of this
environmental structure is as follows:

“The exosystem comprises the linkages and processes taking place between two or
more settings, at least one of which does not contain the developing person, but in
which events occur that indirectly inﬂuence processes within the immediate setting in
which the developing person lives” (Bronfenbrenner, 1993, p.24).

A mother’s work environment including ﬂexible work schedules, family-friendly
policies, and community-based family resources represent the exosystem. The child
may not be directly involved at this level, but he or she does feel the positive or
negative forces involved with the interaction with his or her own system. In this
study, mothers’ employment status and their perceived satisfactions with employment
and community support were examined at this level as related to its direct or indirect

inﬂuences on their quality of parenting.

The macrosystems represent the outermost layer in the child’s development.
The macrosystem is comprised of cultural values, customs, rules, and laws
(Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The macrosystem have an inﬂuence throughout the
interactions of all other layers. For example, if there is the cultural belief that parents
should be solely responsible for taking care of their children, culture is less likely to
provide resources to help parents. This, in turn, inﬂuences the structure in which the
parents function. Likewise, the parents’ capability to perform the responsibility to
raise the child within the context of the child’s microsystem is affected. These values
differ from culture to culture, and all of the experiences parents have for their children
in home, child care settings, community, and all other contexts directly or indirectly
inﬂuence parents and children.

In keeping with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective, this study examined
interactions between interconnected systems that are viewed as having a critical
inﬂuence on child developmental outcomes. This study examined portions of the

child’s microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem.

10

 

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Figure 1. Inﬂuences on Child Development From Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model
of Human Develogment

Bandg’s Self-Efﬁcacy TheorY

The theory underlying this study is a Bandura’s theory of self-efﬁcacy
(Bandura, 1997). Bandura (1997) deﬁnes perceived self-efficacy as one’s judgment of
how effectively one can perform a task or manage a situation. People who feel
conﬁdent about a particular task or situation are likely to anticipate success and to
succeed in completing the task. If outcomes are positive, a feeling of conﬁdence
grows in a person leading him or her to believe that they are capable of performing the
behavior and the task. Bandura (1995, 1997) deﬁnes this feeling of perceived self-
conﬁdence as self-efﬁcacy. Also, Bandura (1977a; 1982) asserted that effective
functioning requires people to develop competence and skills.

Perceived self-efﬁcacy is generated from four different sources of information
including personal accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and
emotional arousal (Bandura, 1995; 1997). Performance accomplishments are the most
inﬂuential and powerful of the four sources because they are based on one’s own
experiences. Success in an area increases one’s feelings of mastery in that area while
repeated failure undermines one’s feelings of mastery (Bandura, 1995). If strong self-
efﬁcacy is developed through repeated successes, then even the negative effects of
failure is decreased. A resilient sense of efﬁcacy requires experience in overcoming
challenges through continued effort (Bandura, 1989).

Vicarious experience is observing others performing the desired behavior or
task. Seeing people similar to themselves succeed, in turn, creates expectations that
the observer can master the behavior or tasks with continued effort (Bandura, 1986).

By the same token, observing others fail despite high effort lowers the observer’s self-

12

efﬁcacy. The impact of modeling on personal self-efﬁcacy is strongly inﬂuenced by
perceived similarity to the models.

Verbal persuasion by one person to another is a third way of strengthening
perceived self-efﬁcacy. People who are verbally persuaded that they can perform the
desired behavior or task are likely to put greater effort and sustain it to master the
behavior or task. People who have been persuaded that they lack capabilities to
succeed at a certain task tend to avoid challenging activities and give up quickly in the
face of difﬁculties. Having a trustworthy and assured expert as the persuader adds to
the amount of self-efficacy developed (Bandura, 1995).

People also partly rely on their physiological state (e.g., fear or anxiety) or
emotional arousal (Bandura, 1995, 1997). A person interprets their stress reactions
and tension as signs of vulnerability to poor performance. Mood also affects people’s
judgments of their personal efficacy. Since extreme anxiety usually lowers
performance, a person is more likely to be successful if they are calm and without
anxiety (Bandura, 1995, 1997).

As Bandura (1997) pointed out, sources of information that affect personal
efficacy should be distinguished from the cognitive processing by which that
information is selected, weighted, and integrated into self-efﬁcacy judgments. For
instance, the extent to which performance attainments inﬂuences perceived efficacy
will depend on people’s preconceptions of their capabilities, the perceived difﬁculty of
the tasks, the amount of effort they expended, their physical and emotional state at the
time, the amount of external aid they received, and the situational circumstances under

which they performed (Bandura, 1997).

13

Bandura (1977, 1986, 1989) has deﬁned three distinct dimensions of self-
efﬁcacy. Magnitude indicates one’s subjective estimation of performance of particular
behaviors at different levels of task difﬁculty. A person’s perception of his or her
efﬁcacy varies in terms of the referent task difﬁculty level. The second dimension
speciﬁed by Bandura is strength, which is a measure of a person’s degree of
conﬁdence in performing tasks at speciﬁed levels of difficulty. Finally, generality
relates to the degree of transfer of mastery expectations across speciﬁed activities.
Bandura (1997) has proposed that some types of experiences create task-restricted
mastery experiences, while others possess potential applicability to a wide range of
conceptually similar behaviors. The extent to which self-efﬁcacy beliefs are likely to
generalize across behaviors is probably determined largely by the type of behaviors
involved as well as by the environmental context (Bandura, 1986). However, Bandura
(1989) does not contend that self-efﬁcacy beliefs generalize between conceptually
unrelated domains. When a researcher is interested in assessing self-efﬁcacy beliefs
relative to a broad domain of parenting, Bandura (1989) advocates the use of a
multifaceted measure to simple self-perceptions related to several distinct and Speciﬁc

parenting behaviors as opposed to a global measures of self—efficacy in parenting.

14

Conceptual Model
The ﬁrst objective of this study was to identify which maternal characteristics
are related to maternal self-efﬁcacy (Figure 2). In addition, this study examined
whether maternal self-efﬁcacy mediates the effects of the other maternal
characteristics on the quality of parenting (HOME). Finally, relationships among
maternal self-efﬁcacy, the quality of parenting, and the child developmental outcome
(ASQ) were investigated (Figure 3). The program effect (Early Head Start

participation) was controlled for the purpose of this study.

Conceptual and Operational Deﬁnitions

The Child Developmental Outcome

Conceptual: The child developmental outcome is conceptually deﬁned as the current
child’s developmental status in such areas as communication, gross
motor, ﬁne motor, problem solving, and personal- social.

Operational: The children’s total score on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)
(Squire, Potter, & Bricker, 1999) administered by trained home visitors
of Early Head Start.

The Quality of Parenting

Conceptual: The quality of parenting is deﬁned as the quality of rearing
environment provided by the mother for her young child at home.

Operational: The mother’s total score on the Home Observation for Measurement of

the Environment-Short Form (0-3 years old)

15

Maternal Self-efﬁcagv

Conceptual:

Operational:

Maternal self-efﬁcacy is conceptually deﬁned as mother’s perceived
self conﬁdence in both speciﬁc childrearing tasks and the parenting
role in general.

The mother’s total score obtained ﬁom either the Maternal Self
Efﬁcacy (mothers with infants) or the Toddler Care Questionnaire
(mothers with toddlers) depending on the age at which their child is

enrolled in the program.

Maternal Characteristics

Conceptual:

Operational:

Maternal characteristics are conceptually deﬁned as the individual
attributes of the mother including 1) mother’s such demographics as
age, employment status, education level, and the number of children in
the household, and 2) mother’s perceived stress level associated with
the parenting role, and 3) mother’s perceived satisfactions with
contextual factors such as employment, child care experiences, and
family/community support.

1) Maternal characteristics are operationally both deﬁned as
information about a mother’s demographics as reported on a set of the
questions found on the Parent Enrollment Packet.

2) Mother’s perceived stress level associated with the parenting role is
operationally deﬁned as the mother’s total score on the Parenting Stress

Index-Short Form.

16

3) Mothers’ perceived satisfactions with contextual factors are
operationally deﬁned as measure of a mother’s responses to the sets of
the following questionnaire (Initial Family Satisfaction Rating) found
on the Parent Enrollment Packet:

Child Care- “ Indicate the level of the satisfaction with the current
child care arrangement (5 point Likert Scale).

Employment Status- “Indicate your levels of the satisfaction with
employment (a 5 point Likert Scale)

Family Support— “ Indicate the levels of your satisfaction with family
support” (a 5 point Likert Scale)

Community Resources- “Indicate the level of your satisfaction with
community resources available to your family” (a 5 point Likert Scale)
For the purpose of this study, each 5- point Likert scale rating was

averaged for an overall measure of satisfaction with contextual factors.

17

Maternal Demographics

PSI

 

 

$ Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy ’ HOME

Mothers’ Perceived Satisfactions
With Contextual Factors (MPSCF)

Figure 2. Proposed Role of Matern_al Self-Efﬁgmv In MediJating the Effect of the
Maternal Characteristics On the Quality of the Home Environment (HOME)

Mtg

Maternal Demographics include information about mothers’ levels of education, maternal age,
employment status, and the number of children in the household obtained from the parent
enrollment packets. Maternal Demographics, PSI, and MPSCF were included as covariates of
maternal self-efﬁcacy.

PSI represents mothers’ perceived parenting stress levels measured by the Parenting Stress
Index (PSI) including parental distress (PD), parent-child dysfunctional interaction (P-CDI),
and difﬁcult child (DC).

Mothers’ Perceived Satisfactions with Contextual Factors represent mothers’ perceived
satisfactions with employment, child care experiences, and family/community support and this
information was obtained from the parent enrollment packets from Early Head Start

Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy represents mothers’ perceived levels of conﬁdence in parenting
measm'ed by either Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale (mothers with infants aged 0-12 months old)
or Toddler Care Questionnaire (mother with toddlers aged 13- 36 months old).

HOME represents the quality of parenting measured by the Home Observation Of
Measurement of Environment (0-3 ages)

Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy , HOME

 

l

ASQ

Figure 3. Relationships Among Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy, HOME, and ASQ

NOIC

The Child Developmental Outcome was measured by the total scores of the Ages & Stages
Questionnaire (ASQ) in 5 developmental areas including communication, gross-motor, fme-
motor, problem-solving, and personal-social.

l8

Assmnptions
The following assumptions were made in this study
. The mothers’ responses on the various instruments including HOME, PSI,
Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy, and Toddler Care Questionnaire reﬂect what these
instruments should measure.
The children’s total score on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)
reﬂects the current children’s developmental status such in communication,

gross motor, ﬁne motor, problem solving, and personal-social area.

19

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Several speciﬁc objectives were formulated to provide a review of the
following literature. First, a summary of the literature on the maternal self-efficacy
pertaining to the potential importance of this construct for explaining individual
variances in parenting behavior was the focus of this section. Speciﬁcally, the
research ﬁndings relevant to a mediating role of maternal self-efﬁcacy in determining
the effects of the identiﬁed variables of this study on parenting behavior (the quality of
the home environment provided by mothers) were highlighted. Second, the factors
that predict maternal self-efﬁcacy were discussed within the scope of this study.

Third, the important issue pertaining to maternal self-efﬁcacy and the levels of its
measurement in the research arena was also addressed within the major components of
Bandura’s (1995, 1997) self-efﬁcacy theory. Finally, research ﬁndings on the effects
of the home environment on child developmental outcomes were described as one of
the main outcomes of interest in this study.

Focus of the Litegture Review

A couple of notes with regard to the research ﬁndings on maternal self-
efﬁcacy and parenting, prior to presenting the literature review, need to be made. First
and foremost, this study focused on maternal self-efﬁcacy and the quality of parenting
among mothers of young children. Mothers were considered primary caregivers,
though parenting as a complex process affects and is affected by the entire family.

The related research literature has been continually found and discussed that mothers

20

are primarily caregivers. Second, the ﬁndings concerning the effects of the identiﬁed
variables (independent variables) on parenting behavior (the quality of the home
environment provided by mothers of young children) as interest of this study were
integrated into the review section on the mediating role of maternal self-efﬁcacy rather
than reviewed separately.
Mediating Role of the Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy

A substantial body of literature has related quality of parenting to social and
marital supports (Crockenberg & McCluskey, 1986, Cutrona & Troutrnan, 1986;
Harm, 1989), maternal depression (Cohn, Matias, Tronick, Connell, & Lyons-Ruth,
1986; Gelfand & Teti, 1990, 1991; Scheel & Rieckmann, 1998; Tucker, Gross, Fogg,
Delaney, & Lapporte, 1998), characteristics of infants such as temperament and
gender (Gelfand & Teti, 1990, 1991; Hudson, Eleck, & Fleck, 2001; Scheel &
Rieckmann, 1998), and characteristics of parents (Conrad, Gross, F ogg, & Ruchala,
1992; Luster 1985; Luster & Kain, 1987; Luster & Rhodes, 1989). Along the same
lines, researchers have investigated the mediating role of maternal self-efficacy,
linking the relationship between parental/maternal child rearing behavior and
determinants of parenting (Cutrona & Troutrnan, 1986; Gelfand & Teti, 1990, 1991;
Hudson, Eleck, & Fleck, 2001; Machida, Taylor, & Kim, 2002;Tucker, Gross, Fogg,
Delaney, & Lapporte, 1998). Evidence from the literature has found that maternal
self-efﬁcacy has been related to mothers’ self-esteem, mental health, and adaptation to
parenting (Conrad, Gross, Fogg & Ruchala, 1992; Holder & Banez, 1996). A low
sense of parenting efﬁcacy is related to the use of coercive and intense disciplinary

tactics in efforts to control child behavior (Mash, Johnson & Kovitz, 1983). Available

21

research, to date, has found that the inﬂuences of those variables on the mother-infant
relationship are largely indirect and mediated by mothers’ perceived feelings of
efﬁcacy in the parenting role (Teti & Gelfand, 1990; 1991).

Mcteristics of the child Competent care-giving requires conﬁdence in
one’s ability to appropriately meet the child’s needs. An effective caregiver creates an
environment that supports the development of the infant (Donovan, Leavitt, & Walsh,
1990). Within the construct of self-efﬁcacy, infant temperament, as well, has been
examined as a predictor of maternal behavior. Studies have found that maternal self-
efficacy is related to mothers’ perceptions of their babies as temperamentally “easy”
or “difficult” (Cutrono & Troutrnan, 1986;Goldberg, 1977; Gross, Conrad, Food, &
Wothke, 1994;Teti & Gelfand, 1991). This literature is congruent with Bandura’s
(1989) notion of the nature of personal accomplishment histories playing a role in the
development of personal efficacy beliefs. 7 Goldberg (1977) has speculated that
maternal self-efﬁcacy is likely to be fostered by infants who are predictable,
manageable, and easily soothed. By contrast, difﬁculty of infant temperament is an
important dimension of mothers’ experience in the months following childbirth
(Cutrono & Troutrnan, 1986).

In Cutrono & Troutrnan’s (1986) study of assessing maternal depression of 55
married women during pregnancy and again 3 months postpartum, infant difﬁculty
alone was able to account for 30% of the variance in the postpartum depression score.
In light of that evidence, Cutrona and Troutrnan (1986) stated that infant temperament
exerted indirect inﬂuences through the mediation of perceived self-efficacy. Mothers

with little competence in their parenting may behave in ways that led to a relative low

22

rate of reinforcement from their infants (e. g., child laughing) or their low self-efﬁcacy
may lead to a predominance of self-blaming causal attributions for negative outcomes
(Bandura, 1982; Cutrona & Troutrnan, 1986). In a longitudinal study (Gross, Conrad,
Fogg, & Wothke, 1994) of mothers of young children, ﬁndings supported the
following: the more depressed a mother is, the more She perceives her toddler’s
temperament as difﬁcult, the more difﬁcult a toddler’s temperament is perceived, the
lower the mother’s self-efﬁcacy in parenting, the lower the mother’s self—efﬁcacy, the
greater her depression, and the more depressed a mother is, the greater the chance she
will remain depressed six months later. In light of those ﬁndings, the mothers develop
their perceptions of themselves and their children early in the parent-child relationship
and these remain persistent (Gross, et al., 1994). Comparing maternal and paternal
self-efﬁcacy during toddlerhood was focused in the same study (Gross & Tucker
1994). F orty-six married mothers and fathers completed a questionnaire on child
characteristics including temperament, behavior intensity, and problem behavior,
parental depression, and parenting efﬁcacy. Among both parents, efﬁcacy was
signiﬁcantly related to perception of difﬁcult child behavior including overall
temperament and annoying or disrupting behavior of the child. However, paternal
efﬁcacy was not affected by problematic behaviors from their child and it was not
related to perceived efﬁcacy in parenting, unlike maternal efﬁcacy.

Consistent ﬁndings on the mediating inﬂuence of maternal efﬁcacy, to date,
provide important insights in establishing links between variations in mothers’
perceptions of infant temperament and maternal behavior. The inﬂuence of mothers’

perceptions of infant temperamental difﬁculty on maternal behavioral competence

23

appeared to depend upon the mothers’ self-efﬁcacy in parenting. Thus, a difficult
baby may be expected to have a negative effect on maternal behavior only to the
extent that infant temperament reduces a mother’s perceived feeling in her maternal
role (Teti & Gelfand, 1991). Mothers who have feelings of self-doubt in response to
infant difficulty may be expected to withdraw from that challenge, resulting in not
establishing sensitive relationships with their infants.

Social: and marital supports The proposition that the relationships
with others can affect perceived self-efﬁcacy is consistent with Bandura’s self-
efﬁcacy theory. Speciﬁcally, watching the performances of others in the parenting
role may shape expectations for one’s own performance. Also, ’diregtyerjiaL
persuasion from others can inﬂuence perceived self-efﬁcacy. In the current research,
social support has been found as a protective resource against the stress caused by the
parenting roles (Cutrona & Troutrnan, 1986; Erdwins, Buffardi, Casper, & O’Brien,
2001; MacPhee, Fritz, & Miller-Hey], 1996; Teti & Gelfand, 1991). Cutrona and
Troutrnan (1986) hypothesized that the perceived level of social support among
mothers of infants could affect maternal depression through the cognitive mediation of
perceived self-efﬁcacy in the parenting role. In their study, 55 married women were
assessed maternal postpartum depression during pregnancy and again 3 months
postpartum. Consistent with predictions, social support appeared to exert its
protective function against mild depression primarily through the mediation of self-
efficacy (Cutron & Troutrnan, 1986). Another study by Teti & Gelfand (1991) found
consistent evidence that maternal self-efﬁcacy is a central mediator of relations

between mothers’ behavior competence with their infants and social/marital supports.

24

The two interrelated ﬁndings support this. First, maternal self-efﬁcacy is correlated
signiﬁcantly with social-marital supports after controlling for selected demographic
variables (e.g., education, SES, etc.). Second, efﬁcacy was not signiﬁcantly related to
social/marital supports when self-efficacy effects were controlled (Teti & Gelfand,
1991). In a recent study of 129 married, employed women with at least 1 preschool-
aged child, Erdwins, Buffardi, Casper, and O’Brien (2001) obtained strong support for
their hypothesis that perceived conﬁdence in parenting could mediate the relationship
between social support and multiple role strain. The more conﬁdent mothers felt as
parents, the less they reported being overwhehned by their multiple role demands

(e. g., maternal role, employment role), and the more they feel supported by their
spouses (Erdwins, et al., 2001).

Bandura (1986) postulated that an individual’s sense of self-efﬁcacy operates
to reduce perceptions of and reactions to stress. Thus, it seems reasonable that the
more a mother feels able to successfully handle the demands entailed in her parenting
role, the less is her experiences of role conﬂicts and overload in parenting. Also, it is
possible that a mother’s sense of self-efﬁcacy mediates the relationship between social
support and role strain or stress. That is, support received from spouse, family
members, or others may have the effect of enhancing a mother’s sense of being able to
c0pe effectively with the demands or her various life roles including the parenting
role, which in turn may reduce the levels of stress associated with those roles.
Parenting self-efﬁcacy was strongly related to child-rearing practices across all ethnic
groups, and mediated the effects of social support (MacPhee, Fritz, & Miller-Hey],

1996)

25

Parenting Stress Contrary to social/marital support, research has found
that maternal stress led to decrease their self-efﬁcacy in the parenting role (Cutrona &
Troutrnan, 1986; Gross, Conrad, Fogg & Wothke, 1994; Gross & Rocissano, 1988;
Gross & Tucker, 1994; Scheel & Rieckmann, 1998; Tucker et al., 1998). Gross &
Rocissano’s (1988) studied ﬁfty—eight mothers of toddlers to measure their levels of
self-efﬁcacy in parenting. Only depressed mothers scored lower on the efficacy
questionnaire. In a longitudinal study (Gross, et al., 1994), one hundred and twenty-
six mothers of one-year-olds, and 126 mothers of two-year—olds were measured by the
Parent Domain of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) three times over one year.
Consistent ﬁndings that the more depressed a mother is, the lower the mother’s self-
efﬁcacy, and the greater her depression, the greater the chance she will remain
depressed six months later were provided (Gross, et al., 1994). A one year follow-up
study by Tucker and Gross (1998) in which the effectiveness of a behavioral parent
training (BPT) intervention for improving maternal self-efficacy was investigated also
reported the evidence that increases in maternal self-efﬁcacy and reduction in maternal
parenting stress were maintained up to 1 year post-intervention. Field, Sandberg,
Garcia, Vega-Lahr, Goldstein, & Guy (1985) provided the consistent evidence that
depressed mood state of mothers of infants has been associated with low self-efﬁcacy
and has been shown to interfere with optimal caregiving. However, mild sub-clinical
depression or perceived parenting stress, which can nevertheless affect mothers’
perceptions of their behavior in the parenting role was expected to be relatively
common (Cohn & Tronick, 1983; Cohen & McKay, 1984;Teti & Gelfand, 1991). A

majority of research available to date has predominantly focused on the relationship

26

between maternal role and stress or role strain associated with the parenting role.
Within that relationship, studies have found that maternal self—efficacy could mediate
that relationship.

Knowledge of early child development Bandura (1977, 1986, 1989)
discussed the hypothesis that behavior may be inﬂuenced by the combined effects of
individuals’ knowledge about a task and their conﬁdence in their ability to perform
that task successfully. Therefore, maternal self-efﬁcacy is a necessary condition for
mothers to perform successful tasks and mothers who know little about her child’s
development may have lower maternal self-efﬁcacy in the parenting role. The
interaction between a mother’s perceived feeling of competence in the parenting role
and knowledge of early child development predicted the quality of mother-child
interactions, but neither was predictive of mother-child interactions when considered
alone (Conrad, Gross, Fogg, & Ruchala, 1992). Conrad and colleagues (1992) found
that maternal self-efﬁcacy was related to quality of mother-child interaction only when
knowledge of child development was taken into account. Mothers who were at least
knowledgeable of early child development but who maintained conﬁdence in the
parenting role demonstrated the least positive interactions. Conrad et al. (1992)
suggested that these mothers, referred to as “naively conﬁdent”, may be the ones who
are unaware of the complexities of the parenting and those who have traditionally been
most difﬁcult to retain in parenting intervention programs.

ﬂuent satisfaction Self-efﬁcacy theory predicts that parents who
experience higher self-efﬁcacy may be more satisﬁed with parenting. Parenting

satisfaction can be deﬁned as perceptions of pleasure and gratiﬁcation with regard to

27

the parenting role (Mercer, 1986). Only a few numbers of researchers have studied
parents’ satisfaction in their parenting role (Hudson, Elek, & F elck, 2001 ;Reece &
Harkless, 1998). Reece and Harkless (1998) found that fathers were less satisﬁed than
mothers in caring for their infants and fathers reported higher levels of self-efﬁcacy in
their paternal role than mothers did. In a recent study by Hudson and colleagues
(2001), the association between ﬁrst time mothers’ and fathers’ development of infant
care self-efﬁcacy and parenting satisfaction was explored during the ﬁrst 4 months
following the infant’s birth. Supportive evidence that mothers’ infant care self-
efﬁcacy scores were signiﬁcantly related to parenting satisfaction scores at 12 and 16
weeks was found (Hudson et al., 2001). Fathers of male infants had signiﬁcantly
higher parenting satisfaction scores than fathers of female infants at 12 and 16 weeks
following the infant’s birth. But, the relationship between parenting self-efﬁcacy and
parenting satisfaction has not received much attention in the maternal self-efﬁcacy
literature. Hudson et al. (2001) stated that mothers’ and fathers’ satisfaction with the
parenting role might lead to more effective child rearing and the understanding of this
relationship with parenting self-efﬁcacy may provide insights into developing
effective intervention programs to assist mothers and fathers during the transition to
parenthood.

Parenting behavior Increasing attention has been paid to the role of maternal
self-efﬁcacy in mediating parenting behavior in the literature (Luster & Rhoades,
1989; Harkness, Super, 1996; Machida, Taylor, & Kim, 2002). Especially, a recent
study conducted by Machida et al. (2002) examined the mediating role of maternal

self-efﬁcacy in predicting parental involvement in home learning activities in a sample

28

of Head Start families. Path analysis results provided that parent self-efﬁcacy serves
as an intervening variable linking child and family background characteristics (i.e.,
mother’s education, child’s difficult temperament, and family stress) and the home
learning environment (Machida et al., 2002). Maternal self-efﬁcacy was found to
mediate the effect of child temperament on the quality of the home learning
environment provided by mothers, and family stress was found to affect the child’s
quality of the home learning environment through the mediation of maternal self-
efficacy (Machida et al., 2002).

Inﬂuences on Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy;

The existing maternal self-efﬁcacy literature reviewed so far has clearly
demonstrated that maternal self-efﬁcacy has been described an inﬂuential mediator of
several of the determinants that have been examined in relation to parenting behavior
including child temperament, social/marital supports, parenting stress, and parental
child rearing beliefs. Given the above research and theoretical support for the
important role maternal self-efﬁcacy is likely to exert on a number of aspects of
parenting competence occurring both affective and behavior levels of parenting, it is
essential for researchers to identify the variables that relate to maternal self-efﬁcacy.
A summary of the current literature on the inﬂuences on maternal self-efﬁcacy is
provided in the following within the scope of this study.

Child rearing beliefs Bandura discussed that self-efﬁcacy involves
also the belief that a certain behavior will bring about the desired outcome. Previous
researchers have investigated the relationship between parents’ child rearing beliefs

and the quality of care (Luster & Rhoades, 1989) to understand parenting behavior.

29

Speciﬁcally, Luster and Rhoades (1989) expected that mothers who provided the most
supportive home environments (1th HOME scores) tended to believe that parents
exert considerable inﬂuence on the development of their children (called this
perceived contingency). Contrary to the hypothesis, mothers who perceive themselves
as being relatively competent had lower scores on the HOME. A certain amount of
self-doubt on parenting as an indication of their realistic appreciation of the
complexities associated with good parenting (the quality of the home environment)
was explained for this ﬁnding (Luster & Rhoades, 1989). In that scenario, external
inﬂuences may also play an important role in accordance with parental beliefs that
they could exert inﬂuence in a particular developmental outcome to make effort in that
area (e. g., language/cognitive development). Parents were not highly motivated to
stimulate a certain developmental outcome if they perceive that the developmental
outcome in that area is determined by external inﬂuences (e. g., genetics) that are out
of their controls rather than home environment (Luster & Rhoades, 1989). Another
study with a national sample of 3000 parents also continued the previous ﬁnding that
parents’ beliefs about effecting parenting practices are related to parents’ perceptions
of control over developmental outcomes of their children (Luster & Kain, 1987).
Moreover, this study found that high efﬁcacy and low efﬁcacy parents differed to
some extent in how they viewed the parenting role. High efﬁcacious parents were
reported that they emphasized the importance of providing their children with love and
affection and good examples more than their counterparts who tended to place greater

emphasis on disciplinary actions (Luster & Kain, 1987).

30

Inﬂuences of the demographics One of the primary inﬂuences on
maternal self-efﬁcacy that has been investigated in the literature is demographics of
the mothers (Luster & Kain, 1987). Low SES parents tended to believe that they had
less inﬂuence on child development than higher SES parents (Luster & Kain, 1987).
When controlling for education and income, white parents were more likely than black
parents to believe that they could exert inﬂuence on the development of children. In
another study, Luster & Rhoades (1989) found that adolescent mothers differed from
their comparison group (mature mothers/older mothers) on the perceived competency
subscale of the parental self-efﬁcacy measure that assessed mothers’ beliefs about the
extent to which parents can inﬂuence the development of their children. The
adolescents were more likely to view themselves as being relatively competent parents
than mature parents, though they had lower scores on the HOME than the comparison
group.

Inﬂuences of paring Literature pertaining to the relationship between parity
and maternal self-efﬁcacy has been limited, but one study revealed that prior child
care experience and child birth order (only for pre-term births) were strong predictors
of maternal self-efﬁcacy in toddler-hood (Gross et al., 1989). This evidence implies
that the development of maternal self-efﬁcacy may be a result of direct experience. It
is also consistent with Bandura’s (1989) contention that direct involvement with the
actual behavior exerts the most powerful inﬂuence as a source of information in the

formation of self-efficacy.

31

Inﬂuences of multiple role stra_in Erdwins and his colleagues (2001) in
their recent study attempted to enlarge our understanding of different facets of
women’s role stress including conﬂict between employment and parenting roles or
obligations, role overload, and anxiety about being separated from their young
children. Furthermore, the inﬂuences of role self-efﬁcacy pertaining to work efficacy
and maternal self-efﬁcacy were measured separately so the relationship of each to
women’s role strain as well as the possible mediating role of self-efficacy in the
relationship between social support and role strain were examined. The more
conﬁdent these women felt as parents and the less they reported being overwhelmed
by their multiple role demand (Erdwins et al., 2001). Thus, the increased self-
effrcacy is associated with the reduced role conﬂict experienced by mothers of
children. These ﬁndings provide important insights into understanding of this
connection between self-perceived efficacy in family and employment roles. In light
of those ﬁndings, it is argued that women’s stress should be expanded so that future
research can clarify what factors within the individual and the environment may
facilitate the development of mothers’ self-efﬁcacy (Erdwins, et al., 2001).

Inﬂuences of child care experiences It is reasonably hypothesized that
mothers’ satisfaction with their child care experiences/arrangement would be
associated with the increased maternal self—efficacy in the parenting role.
Unfortunately, there is no research on the direct effects of child care experiences on
maternal self-efﬁcacy in the parenting role. Most of the existing research ﬁndings
have focused on mothers’ satisfaction with their child care and its association with

work-family role stain (Buffardi & Erdwins, 1997; Erdwins et al., 2001; Erdwins,

32

Casper, & Buffardi, 1998). The relationship between mothers’ child care satisfaction
and their less intense feelings of role strain appeared to be signiﬁcantly related to
maternal separation anxiety. The more satisﬁed a mother was with her child care
arrangement, the less anxiety she experienced about leaving their young children in
some one else’s care (Buffari & Erdwins, 1997). It seems intuitive that women have
less separation anxiety due to their satisfaction with child care would, in turn, feel
more efﬁcacious in the parenting role. However, additional research is needed to gain
empirical support for this proposition.
Issues Related to Measurement of Maternal Self-Efficacy

In the existing literature, there is considerable discussion about how to measure
maternal self-efﬁcacy. Most maternal self- efficacy literature, addressed herein, has
focused on only a few speciﬁed tasks of the parenting role, however, parenting
behavior is composed of multiple and complex behaviors (Belsky, 1991). Several
issues that follow should be considered in doing research on maternal self-efﬁcacy in
the parenting area. First of all, as applied to the realm of parenting, how do self-
effrcacy beliefs at the task level (e.g., ability to discipline or soothe children) enter into
one’s perceptions of competency as a parent (at the domain level) or as human being
at the general level. In other words, do a parent’s level of general self-efﬁcacy
inﬂuence parental self-efﬁcacy at the domain and or the speciﬁc level? Relatively
little is known about the extent to which task, domain, and general self-efficacy
operate independently or interact to affect parenting behavior (W oodruff & Cashman,

1993). But more generalized self-efﬁcacy measures may provide considerable utility

33

as predictors of broadly conceptualized parenting behaviors (Hudson, Elek, & F elck,
2001)
The Quality of the Home Environment and Child Outcome

' The majority of previous studies using HOME scale are those that have
examined the relationship of HOME to children’s cognitive development (IQ and
language development). Among the earliest study was conducted by Elardo, Bradely,
and Caldwell (1975). In that study, HOME scores obtained when children were 6, 12,
and 24 months old were correlated with Bayley Infant Scales scores obtained when the
child was 6 and 12 months and with Standard-Binet Intelligence Test scores obtained
at age 3 years. A one- year follow up study by Bradley and Caldwell (1976) included
an IQ assessment at 54 months old. The results of those studies have produced strong
evidence that home environmental variables related to cognitive development,
independent of SES (Elardo, Bradley, & Caldwell, 1976; Bradley & Caldwell, 1977;
Gottﬁred, 1984), but the correlation coefﬁcients varied as a function of the age at
which the child was tested. For children who were assessed through the preschool
years (Gottfried & Gottﬁied, 1984; Barnard, Bee, & Hammond, 1984), home scale
scores that were obtained at age 2 or later had more highly correlations with
concurrent and subsequent measures of cognitive development than did assessment of
home environment conducted within the ﬁrst year. Thus, preschool intelligence tests
correlated higher with home environment than did infant intelligence tests.
Furthermore, assessments of home environment showed moderate stability during
infancy and the preschool years and that stability of home environment was

considered to account for most of the correlations between early environment and

34

subsequent cognitive development (Bradley & Caldwell, 1977; Gottﬁied & Gottfried,
1984)

With regard to the relationship between the HOME and language development,
results were found in a similar fashion. Elardo, Bradley & Caldwell (1977) examined
74 children and their families (48 blacks, 26 white) using the HOME scale and the
Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA). HOME scores taken at 6 and 24
months were correlated with 37-month performance of the Illinois Test of
Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA). The subscales maternal involvement and the types
of stimulation assessed by HOME demonstrated a strongly association with Auditory
Reception, Auditory Association, Visual Association, Verbal Expression, and
Grammatical Closure. The multiple correlation for HOME subscales and the ITPA
total scores was R=.41(Elardo, Bradley & Caldwell, 1977). As expected, the
correlation coefﬁcients for 24 moth HOME scores and 37month ITPA scores showed
more stronger association (ranging from .52 to .62) with 37 month ITPA scores than
did 6 month HOME scores. All six HOME subscales and each of the ITPA subtests
were signiﬁcant. In a 5 tear Canadian longitudinal study (Folwer & Swenson, 1975)
where 23 infants at day care and 23 matched home-reared infants were examined,
correlations between HOME scores and measures of cognitive and social development
ranged from moderate (.4) to strong (.8). Home scores showed a stronger relationship
to verbal than affective or perceptual-motor factors (Fowler & Swenson, 1975, cited in
Gottfried & Gottfried, 1984). 12 month HOME scores were also considered to be

better predictors of school achievement than SES variables (Gottfried, 1984).

35

Taken together, research ﬁndings show that the HOME is a strong predictor of
children’s outcomes in the area of cognitive development and school achievement
(e.g., IQ, language development). The ﬁndings of this study add to the existing
literature on the quality of home learning environment along with continued
investigation of the mediating role of maternal self-efﬁcacy. This attempt helps us
understand individual differences in providing stimulating home environments for
their young children and its effects on the developmental outcome of young children

from high-risk environments.

36

Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter is divided into the sections that follow: (a) research design, (b)
research hypotheses, (c) sample selection, ((1) research instruments, and (e) data

analyses.

Research Design

This study contains three major categories of independent variables that are
considered as maternal characteristics:(l) maternal demographics including maternal
age, education, and the number of children in the household, (2) mothers’ perceived
parenting stress, and (3) mothers’ perceived satisfactions with contextual factors (e. g.,
employment status, child care experiences, and family/commrmity support). These
maternal characteristics were conceptualized as predictors of maternal self-efﬁcacy.
Furthermore, it was hypothesized that maternal self-efﬁcacy might play a role in
mediating the effects of those maternal characteristics on the quality of parenting (the
quality of the home environment mothers provide). Finally, the relationships among
maternal self-efﬁcacy, the quality of parenting, and the child developmental outcome
were examined in this study.

In order to carry out the research objectives, a non- experimental survey
research design was undertaken. Also, it was cross-sectional in nature. The writ of

analysis in this study was the individual parent and children who were receiving Early

37

Head Start beneﬁts. This study was a secondary analysis of the data collected by

Early Head Start program, located in Lansing, Michigan.

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were developed and tested in this study. Non-
directional hypothesis testing (a two-tailed test) was performed due to the small
sample size. ’
Maternal Characteristics and Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy
Hol: Maternal characteristics are not related to maternal self-efficacy.
Hal: There are relationships between maternal characteristics and maternal self-
efficacy.
Hal . 1: Mother’s level of education is related to maternal self-efﬁcacy. In a study by
Luster and Kain (1987), a positive relationship between maternal education and
maternal self-efﬁcacy was found.
Ha1.2: Mother’s age is related to maternal self-efﬁcacy. The positive relationship
between maternal age and maternal self-efﬁcacy was found in a previous study (Gross
et al., 1994).
Hal .3: Mothers’ perceived parenting stress levels are signiﬁcantly related to maternal
self-efﬁcacy. The negative relationship between mothers’ perceived parenting stress
and maternal self-efﬁcacy was found in previous studies by Teti and Gelfand (1991),

Gross et al. (1994), and Tucker and Gross (1998).

38

Hal .4: There are relationships between the number of children mothers have and
maternal self-efﬁcacy. Gross et a1. (1989) supported the positive relationship between
maternal self-efﬁcacy and maternal parity.

Ha 1.5: There are relationships between mothers’ perceived satisfactions with
contextual factors (employment, family support, community resources, and child care
experiences) and maternal self-efﬁcacy. In previous studies by Buffardi and Erdwins
( 1997), Erdwins et al. (2001) and Erdwins, Casper, and Buffardi (1998), a positive
relationship was found.

Medﬁion Effects of Maternal Self-Efficacy

H02: Maternal self-efﬁcacy does not mediate the effects of the maternal characteristics
on the quality of parenting (HOME).

Ha2: Maternal self-efﬁcacy does mediate the effect of the maternal characteristics on
the quality of parenting (HOME).

The Relationships Among Maternal Self-Efficacy, the Quality of Parenting (HOME),
and the Child Developmental Outcome (ASQ)

 

H03: There are no relationships among maternal self-efﬁcacy (measured by either
MSES or TCQ), the quality of parenting (HOME), and the child developmental
outcome (ASQ).

Ha3: There are relationships among maternal self-efﬁcacy, the quality of parenting

(HOME), and the child developmental outcome (ASQ).

39

Sampling Selection

Seventy Early Head Start children and their mothers participated in the ﬁrst
year of a larger, on-going investigation of the evaluation project of the program. The
sample for this study only consisted of 42 Early Head Start families of the project
because ﬁfteen (15) out of the seventy (70) families dropped out of the program in the
beginning of the program and of the remaining 55 families, only 42 families
completed administrations of the measures of this study.

‘ This comprehensive Early Head Start (EHS) is a child development program
offered to pregnant women, infants and toddlers under age 3. This particular
comprehensive Early Head Start program offered home based and combination
program options. A home based program was provided by community partners
experienced in delivering intensive, relationship based home visiting to pregnant
women and families with young children. All families (3:42) participating in this
program received weekly home visits. Thirty-four (34) families received
predominantly home-based services with biweekly socialization experiences (e.g.,
group meetings for the parents and children). These socialization experiences
incorporated parent-child time, parent education time, and Policy Council parent
meeting time. The remaining eight families (8) received full day/full year child care
services in a center-based setting along with bi-weekly socialization experiences.

Most families who enroll for ESH services met federal guidelines for poverty.

40

Data Collection Procedures

This study was a secondary analysis of data collected by Early Head Start.
Data for this study were derived from two sources: (a) program enrollment documents
and (b) the data obtained from the measures of interest in this study. The demographic
information of the sample was obtained from the enrollment documents. The surveys
were collected across a range of child ages (birth to 36 months old). This special
comprehensive Early Head Start program was provided in collaboration with several
agencies (Head Start, Jump Start Family Outreach program, Ofﬁce for Young
Children (OYC), Child Abuse Prevention Services, Family Independency Agency
(F IA), Lutheran Social Services, Early On, and Community Mental Health) working
for young children and families in high-risk environments. Early Head Start (EHS)
conducted data collection. A trained Home Visitor aided the parent in completing the
surveys in the parent’s home, while an Intake Coordinator collected data from the
enrolhnent packet from which some variables were used in this study at the program
enrolhnent office. These positions require a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in early
childhood education or child development.

The administration of the surveys (Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale, Toddler Care
Questionnaire, HOME, PSI, and ASQ) was done after the ﬁrst four home visits. Each
measurement has the ID number and the date of administration on the top of each
page. Each agency chose their own number for each family. Completed measurement

tools were returned to the Intake Coordinator for the purpose of data analysis.

41

Sampling Description

Table 1 presents a summary of the demographics and background information
of the sample of this study. The mean age of the 42 mothers sampled at the time of
enrollment in EHS program was 25.66 (§Q=5.68). Almost 70 percent of the sample
(69%) achieved high school/GED education. Only 13 out of 42 mothers achieved
some college education (r_1=12) or a college degree (p=1). The families in the sample
of this study had incomes at or below poverty line with mean income of $14,056
(S_D=$8,95 8) and the sample in poverty varied in terms of family income levels. More
than half of the sample (62%) was unemployed at the time of enrollment in the
program and almost half of the mothers (45.2%) were unmarried (single mother
headed families-not living with a partner at the time of enrollment). Only 30% (p=13)
of the mothers were married. The average number of children of the mothers in the
program was 2.4 SD=1.36). About 62 % n=26) of the children were infants (aged
zero to 12 months old at the time of the program enrolhnent) and 38% (r_r=16) of the
children were toddlers (aged 13 months to 36 months at the time of the program
enrollment). About 45% of the children (p=l9) were males. The sampled children
included 20 Caucasian (47.6%), 10 African- American (23.8%), 8 Hispanic (19%), 2

Multi-racial (4.8%), and 2 Haitian (4.8%) children.

42

Table 1

Sample Characteristics (N=42)

 

 

Characteristics % N Mean SD

Child Age 12.63 months 8.42

Infant (0-12 months) 61 .9% 26

Toddlers (1 3-3 6months) 3 8.1% 1 6
Child Gender

male 45.2% 19

female 52.8% 23
Child Ethnicity/Race

Caucasian 47.6% 20

African-American 23.8% 10

Hispanic 19% 8

Multi-racial 4.8% 2

Others (Haitians) 4.8% 2
Age of Mother 25.66 years 5.68
Family Annual Income $14,055.65 $8,957.70
Family Type

Single mother families 45.2% 19

Single mother living with 21.4% 9

(partner)

Two-parent families 3 1% 13

Others (foster families) 2.4% 1
Number of Children 2.40 1.36
Education Level

Less than high school 31% 13

High school/GED 38.1% 16

Some college 28.6% 12

College degree 2.4% 1
Employment Status

Unemployed 61.9% 26

Part-time working 16.7% 7

Full-time working 16.7% 7

School 4.8% 2

 

43

Research Instruments
Mm] Self-Efﬁcacy Seal;

The Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale (MSES) that was developed to reﬂect
Bandura’s concept of self-efﬁcacy is a domain speciﬁc parental self-efﬁcacy scale.
Nine of the 10 (4 point Likert scale) maternal self-efﬁcacy items were developed to
tap mothers’ feelings of efﬁcacy in relation to speciﬁc, delimited domains of infant
care, such as soothing the baby, understanding what the baby wants, getting the baby
to understand mother’s wishes, maintaining the joint attention and interaction with the
baby, amusing the baby, knowing what the baby enjoys, disengaging from the baby,
performing daily routine tasks (e. g., feeding, changing, and bathing the baby), and
getting the baby to show off for visitors (Teti & Gelfand, 1991). A ﬁnal item
addresses the mothers’ global feelings of efficacy in mothering. Item scores can be
summed to yield a maternal self-efﬁcacy score. Internal consistency of the scale was
satisfactory, with a Cronbach’s standardized item alpha of .86 (T eti & Gelfand, 1991).
As evidence for the concurrent validity of the maternal efﬁcacy questionnaire,
maternal self-efﬁcacy scores were strongly related to the Parenting Stress Index (PSI-
reversed scored) (F -.75, p<.001) (T eti & Gelfand, 1991). For this study, alpha
reliability for the Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale was .78.

Toddler (ﬁre Queptionnaipa

The Toddlers Care Questionnaire (TCQ) was used to measure parents’ self-
efﬁcacy in managing tasks and situations relevant to raising a 12 to 36 month-old
child (Gross & Rocissano, 1988). The TCQ is a 37—item questionnaire to measure

parents’ self-efﬁcacy on such tasks as managing toilet training and setting limits on

their toddler’s behavior along a scale of 1 (very little conﬁdence) to 5 (a great deal of
conﬁdence). Scores range from 37 to 185, with higher scores reﬂecting greater
parenting self-efficacy.

The TCQ is signiﬁcantly correlated with mothers’ knowledge of early
childhood development (Conrad, Gross, F ogg, & Ruchala, 1992), parental perceptions
of toddlers’ behavioral difﬁculty (Gross, Conrad, Fogg, & Wothke, 1994; Gross &
Tucker, 1994), and extent of prior childcare experience (Gross, Rocissano, & Roncoli,
1989). Alpha reliability estimates for the TCQ in previous studies have ranged from
.94 for fathers to .96 for mothers (Gross & Tucker, 1994). Test-retest reliability of the
TCQ over a 4-week interval was .87 (Gross & Rocissano, 1988), and alpha reliability
for the TCQ was .94 (Tucker, Gross, Fogg, Delaney, & Lapporte, 1998). The alpha
reliability for the TCQ here was .92.

Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME)

The HOME (infant version) is an observation or interview technique that
assesses the quality of stimulation available to the child in the home (Caldwell &
Bradley, 1984). In this study, the version of the HOME is the 45- item measure
developed for infants and toddlers. The version for the child (0-3 ages old) is
composed of six subscales: (1) emotional and verbal responsivity of mother, (2)
acceptance of child, (3) organization of the environment, (4) provision of appropriate
play materials, (5) maternal involvement with child, and (6) variety in daily
stimulation. In the HOME binary choices (yes or no) rather than ratings along a 5- or
7- point continuum are used for all items. A total score for the HOME is determined

by counting the number of items scored “yes”. Scoring is based partly on observation

45

and partly on answers to a semi-structured interview administered in the home at a
time when the child is awake and can be observed in interaction with the mother or
primary care giver (Elardo, Bradley, & Caldwell, 1975). In this study, only the total
HOME scores were used for analysis purposes.

In a longitudinal study by Caldwell and Bradley (1979), a six-month temporal
stability, found for the six subscales, ranged from .24 to .77. The stability estimates
for the total score over a one-year period was .77. A series of previous studies by
Caldwell and her colleagues has revealed strong evidence that the HOME is a good
predictor of various measures of cognitive ability assessed during the early childhood
period (Elardo, Bradley, & Caldwell, 1975;Bradley & Caldwell, 1976). Correlations
between the HOME and Binet’s IQ scores at age 3 ranged from .72 to .54 during the
early childhood period (at 6, 12, and 24 months). Also, it is reported that the HOME
is a strong predictor of various measures of cognitive ability assessed during the early
childhood period when maternal IQ is controlled (Ramey, 1984). In this study, the
alpha reliability for the HOME full scale was .88.

Parenting Stress Index

Mothers’ perceived parenting stress levels were measured by the Parenting
Stress Index (PSI-short form) with three subscales: parental distress (PD), parent-child
dysﬁmctional interaction (P-CDI), and Difﬁcult Child (DC). The original measure
(Abidirr, 1983) is a 126-item questionnaire reﬂecting areas of potential stress in the
parent-child relationship. The Parent Distress (PD) subscale measures parent’s
dejectedness in their parenting role, with items such as “I feel trapped by my

responsibilities as a parent.” The Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction (P-CDI)

46

subscale measures a parent’s perceptions of the emotional quality of her relationship
with the child, relative to her expectations about the parent-child relationship. A
representative item is “When I do things for my child I get the feeling that my efforts
are not appreciated very much.” Finally, the Difﬁcult Child (DC) subscale measures
a parent’s perceptions of his or her child as possessing disruptive behavior
characteristics. A representative item is “My child does a few things which bother me
a great deal.” Each item is rated on a 5 point scale ranging from 1(strongly agree) to 5
(strongly disagree) indicating increasing levels of perceived parenting stress by
parents. In this study, both total scores of the PS1 (with three subscales) and one
subtotal score (with one subscale-Difﬁcult Child) were used for data analysis.

The PS1 has been the subject of considerable empirical scrutiny and
demonstrated good psychometric properties (Abidin, 1983), with a 6 month test-retest
reliability of .7 to .8 and Cronbach’s alpha at .8 (Deater-Deckard & Scarr, 1996).
Several studies on the temporal stability of the PSI found that test-retest reliabilities
range between .55 and .96, depending on the speciﬁc population tested and the length
of the inter-test interval (Abidin, 1990). Validity of the PS1 has been supported by its
ability to signiﬁcantly discriminate children with behavior problems from normal
controls (Abidin, 1990). In this study, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for the PSI full
scale was .91, and standardized item alpha for the PSI using one subscale (DC) was
.90.

2k Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)
The developmental outcome of young children (birth to 36 months) was

measured using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). The ASQ scale (A Parent-

47

Completed, Child-Monitoring System, 2nd Edition), developed by quured, Potter, and
Bricker, contains 30 developmental items that are written in simple, straightforward
language. The items are divided into ﬁve areas: communication, gross motor, ﬁne
motor, problem solving, and personal-social. For the 30 developmental items, parents
or caregivers check “yes ” (scoring 10 points each) to indicate that their child performs
the behavior speciﬁed in the item, “sometimes ” (scoring 5 points each) indicate an
occasional or emerging response from their child, or “not yet ” (scoring 0 points each)
to indicate that their child does not yet performs the behavior speciﬁed in the item
with corresponding score lines for each item. Adding the scored of the items in each
developmental section gives a section numerical score which can be added together
for a total score. There are cutoffs for each developmental area score to indicate
possible developmental delays. Cut off points of scores that indicates the possible
need for referral for evaluation were generated from scores achieved by the test
sample (of over 7000) by subtracting 2 standard deviations from the mean for each
area of development.

The ASQ questionnaires can be used for two important purposes. First, they
can be used for comprehensive, ﬁrst-level screening of large groups of infants and
young children. Second, the questionnaires can be used to monitor the development of
children who are at risk for developmental disabilities or delays resulting from
medical factors such as low birth weight, prematurity, seizures, serious illness, or from
environmental factors such as poverty, parents with mental impairments, history of
abuse or neglect in the home, or teenage parents. Program staff or the administrator

convert each response to a point value, total these values, and compare the total score

48

to established screen cutoff points. In this study, both total scores and cutoffs for
each developmental area score were used for the purpose of data analysis.

Since 1980, a number of investigators have examined the validity, reliability,
and utility of the ASQ. To examine the validity of the ASQ, children’s classiﬁcations
on parent-completed questionnaires were compared with their classiﬁcations on
professionally administered standardized assessments, including the Bayley Scales of
Infant Development (Bayley, 1969), the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities
(McCarthy, 1972), and the Battelle Developmental Inventory (N ewborg, Stock, Wnek,
Guidubaldi & Svinicki, 1987). Overall agreement on children’s classiﬁcations was
83%, with a range of 76%-91%. Concurrent validity was established by comparing
ASQ classiﬁcations with child’s performance on professionally administered
standardized tests given within 29 days. The Revised Gesell and the Bayley Scales of
Infant Development were used for infants up to 30 months of age. The concurrent
validity of the questionnaires as reported in percent agreement between questionnaires
and standardized assessments ranged from 76% for the 4 month ASQ to 90% for the
30 month ASQ, with 84% overall agreement.

Studies on the reliability of the questionnaires have examined inter-rater and
test-retest reliability as well as internal consistency. Test-retest information was
collected by asking a group of 175 parents to complete two questionnaires on their
children at 2 to 3 week intervals. Classiﬁcation of each child based on the parents’
scoring of the two questionnaires was compared and was found to exceed 90%
agreement. Inter-rater reliability was assessed by having a trained examiner complete

a questionnaire on a child shortly after the parent had completed one. Overall

49

agreement on the classiﬁcation of the child among 112 parents and 3 trained
examiners exceed 90%. For the internal consistency of the questionnaire, Cronbach’s
coefficient alpha was calculated for area scores on individual questionnaires. For the
communication area, alpha ranged from .63 at 4 months to .75 at 24 months. For the
gross motor area, alphas ranged from .53 at 4 months to .87 at 12 and 16 months. The
ﬁne motor area had a coefﬁcient alpha range of .49 at 20 months to .79 at 8 months. i
For the problem solving area, alphas ranged from .52 at 20 months to .75 at 8 months.
Finally, for the personal-social area, alphas ranged from .52 at 16 moths to .68 at 12
months (ASQ 2'“1 edition Manual). The information about the internal consistency for
the full ASQ score was not provided in the ASQ manual.

In this study, using Cronbach’s alpha coefﬁcient, internal consistency
reliability was found to be .78 for the full scale with the current sample. Also, alpha
reliability for each of the subscales was found to be .78 for the communication area,
.76 for the gross-motor area, .74 for the ﬁne-motor area, .79 for the problem solving

area, and .78 for the personal-social area.

Data Analyses
This study had several research objectives. The ﬁrst objective was to identify
which of the maternal characteristics are related to maternal self-efﬁcacy. The
variables of particular interest in this study included maternal demographic variables
(maternal education, age, the number of children, and employment status), mothers’
perceived parenting stress, and mothers’ perceived satisfactions with contextual

factors (employment, child care experiences, and family/community support). In

50

addition, the role of maternal self-efficacy in mediating the effects of those maternal
characteristics on the quality of parenting (HOME) was examined. Finally, the
relationships among maternal self-efﬁcacy, the quality of parenting (HOME), and the
child developmental outcome (ASQ) were also tested.

The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package of the Social Science
(SPSS, 10.0 version). A number of preliminary exploratory analyses were conducted
to determine which, if any, of the demographic variables were related to the primary
study variables. Then, basic descriptive statistics were used to determine the
characteristics of all of the primary study variables. For data analysis, two variables
including family type and cut-off points of ASQ were converted into dichotomous
variables. Speciﬁcally, family type was coded as follows: 1=single mother headed
families and 2= living with a partner or spouse. Also, cut-off points of ASQ were
coded as follows: 1=to be at risk for development, and 2=developing typically.

Zero-order correlations were calculated to determine the extent of associations
among the variables under consideration. Also, t-tests and chi-square tests were
performed to examine any differences in the study variables between the two
subgroups based on child age (mothers of infants vs. mothers of toddlers).

Multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the combined effects
of several predictors on maternal self-efﬁcacy and to identify which of the variables
were related to maternal self-efficacy. Additional multiple regression analyses were
performed to determine the effects of the maternal characteristics on the quality of
parenting (HOME) through the mediation of maternal self-efﬁcacy. The results of the

regression equations were presented for testing of the mediational role of maternal

51

self-efﬁcacy in relationships between the maternal characteristics and the quality of
parenting.

Since two different maternal self-efﬁcacy measures were used in this study,
each of the statistical analyses described were performed separately for the two
subgroups based on the child’s age. A chance probability level of less than .05 was set

to reject the null hypotheses.

52

Chapter 4

RESULTS

Preliminary Data Analysis

A number of preliminary exploratory analyses were performed to determine
which, if any, of the demographic variables were related to the primary study
variables. Family type (with maternal age=.32, p<.05) and family income (with both
the MSES and the TCQ scores, r=-.35, p<.05 and r-=-.52, p<.05, respectively) were
found to be signiﬁcantly related to the primary study variables. These two
demographic variables were controlled in further correlational analyses (T able 3).
Since family income was found to be signiﬁcantly related to both maternal self-
eﬂicacy measures, it was introduced as a covariate of maternal self-efﬁcacy (both
MSES and TCQ) in subsequent multiple regression analyses (Table 7 and 8).

This study controlled for the program effect based on location (home based vs.
center based program). With 34 subjects tested in their home environment settings
and 8 subjects tested in a center setting, several analyses were conducted prior to
combining the data to insure that the samples did not differ signiﬁcantly with regards
to any of the demographic variables as well as the study variables. No differences
were observed in terms of the demographic and study variables.

Correlations among the Predictor Vap'ablea

Pearson r analyses were conducted to examine bivariate relationships among

the predictor variables and results are presented in Table 2. In this sample, only two

signiﬁcant correlations among the variables were found. Older mothers tended to

53

have higher levels of education (r=.38*), and to have more toddlers than infants
(r=.37*).
Correlations Between Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy and the Predictor VMag

To determine the relations between the predictor variables and maternal self-
efﬁcacy, zero-order correlations were performed. Maternal self- efﬁcacy was
measured either by the Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale (mothers with infants) or the
Toddler Care Questionnaire (mothers with toddlers) based on the child’s age. Table 3
presents the zero-order correlations between the predictor variables and maternal self-
efﬁcacy. The associations were examined separately for the two subgroups based on
the child’s age. The same pattern of results was observed with the two subgroups. As
expected, signiﬁcant associations between the age of mothers and mothers’ perceived
conﬁdence in parenting were found in the two subgroups. Older mothers with infants
or toddlers were more likely to feel more efﬁcacious in parenting than younger
mothers. In addition, signiﬁcant associations were found between mothers’ perceived
parenting stress measured by total scores of the Parent Stress Index (PSI-full scale)
and maternal self-efficacy. The signiﬁcant correlations with the two subgroups of
mothers were strong in magnitude (r=-.56 and r=-.58 respectively) and in the expected
directions. Mothers who reported less stress associated with raising their young
children were more likely to report being efﬁcacious in parenting. However, no
signiﬁcant correlations between maternal self-efﬁcacy and mothers’ perceived

satisfactions with contextual factors (MPSCFS) were found in the two subgroups.

54

Table 2

Correlations Amog the Predictor Vagables (N =42)

 

Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6

 

Maternal Characteristics

 

 

1. Age 1

2. # of Children .07 1

3. Education (schooling years) .38* .30 1

4. PSI (full scale) -.15 -.03 -.03 1

5. MPSCF .16 .12 .26 -.11 1

Child Chﬂcteristig

6. Child age (months) .37* .17 .05 .24 —.25 1
Not_c

Education (schooling years) was coded as follows: Less than high school degree/GED=12, High
school degree/GED=13, and Some college=l4 (the one sample with a college degree was not
included for the data analysis).

PSI= Mothers’ perceived levels of parenting stress measured by total scores of the Parent Stress
Index (PSI).

MPSCFS= Mothers’ Perceived Satisfactions with Context Factors were measured by mothers’
levels of their satisfactions with employment, community resources, family support, and child care
experiences. The information was obtained from the Parent Enrollment Packets. Each item use a
5-point Likert Scale ranging from 5 “very satisﬁed “to l”very unsatisﬁed”. For the purpose of
this study, ratings of the four scales (four items in total) were averaged for an overall measure of
satisfaction with contextual factors.

*p<.05.

55

Table 3 also provides the results of partial correlations (controlling for family
income and family type because these two variables were found to be signiﬁcantly
related to maternal self-efficacy and maternal age, respectively) between parenting
self-efﬁcacy and the predictor variables. The pattern of the relationships was
consistent with one exception when the two variables were partialed out. Maternal
education level (schooling years) was signiﬁcantly related to the Maternal Self-
Efﬁcacy Scale (MSES) scores among mothers with infants when family income and
family type were partialed out. The two measures including the PSI full scale (with
three subscales) and maternal self—efﬁcacy scales (MSES and TCQ) were highly
correlated in this sample. To determine whether the contents of the PSI and the two
maternal self-efﬁcacy scales (MSES and TCQ) were overlapped, additional zero-order
correlations were performed (Table 4). The two subscales (Parental Distress and
Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction) that are related to the parent domain of the
PSI were removed and only the child domain subscale (Difﬁcult Child) was used for
data analysis. But, a signiﬁcant correlation between the MSES and the PSI subscale
(Difﬁcult Child) was found. Speciﬁcally, among the mothers of infants, the less
conﬁdent mothers tended to report higher levels of parenting stress as the mothers
perceived their children as possessing disruptive behavior characteristics (Table 4).
With the sample of mothers with toddlers, the PSI with the one subscale of the

Difﬁcult Child (DC) was not signiﬁcantly related to the TCQ scores (Table 4).

56

Table 3

Zero-orderand Pagial Correlations Among MaterngSelf-Efﬁcacy and the Study

Variables Controlling for Family Income and Family Typ_e

 

 

 

Variables Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale Toddler Care Questionnaire
(MSES): Infant Care (T CQ)
;_r__=26 _r_i=16
Age
Zero—order .39“ .40"
Partial .65*** .32"
# of Children
Zero-order -.04 .39
Partial -.05 .23
Education Level
Zero-order .1 1 .04
Partial .19* .22
PSI
Zero-order -.56* -.58*
Partial -.60"”" -.41**
MPSCF S
Zero-order .08 -.3 1
Partial -.02 -.21

 

Note. All signiﬁcance tests are two-tailed. ‘p<.05, “p<.01, "*p<.001

Education level was coded as years of schooling as follows: Less than high school completion=12,
High school degree/GED=13, and some college=l4.

PSI= Parenting Stress Index Scale (total scores of PSI was used).

MPSCFS= S-point Likert scale ratings on employment satisfaction, family support satisfaction,

community resources satisfaction, and child care experiences satisfaction were averaged for an overall
measure of satisfaction with contextual factors.
Family type was coded as follows: l=single-head families and 2=living with a partner or spouse.

57

Table 4
Zero-order Correlations Among PSI (Full scale). PSI (DC subscale). MSEMd TCQ.

 

 

MSES TCQ PSI (Full Scale) PSI (DC)
n=26 n=l6 n=42 n=42
MSES 1
TCQ a 1
PSI (Full Scale) -.56* -.58* 1
PSI (DC) -.49* -.04 .81 ** 1

 

Mpg. *p<.05, “p<.01.

MSES=Matemal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale (MSES) for the mothers with infants

TCQ= Toddler Care Questionnaire (TCQ) for the mothers with toddlers

PSI (Full Scale) consists of the three subscales including the Parental Distress (PD), Parent-Child
Dysfunctional Interaction (P-CDI), and Difﬁcult Child (DC).

a=a correlation between the MSES and TCQ was not computed because the sub-samples were
administered two different measures of maternal self-efficacy based on the child’s age.

58

Differences In the Study Variables Between the Two Subgroups bv Child Age

A series of independent t-test and chi-square analyses were run to examine the
differences between the mothers with infants and the mothers with toddlers in the
study variables including demographic variables. Results of the chi-square analyses
found no signiﬁcant differences in any of the demographic characteristics (Table 5).
The results of the t-test analyses found that the only difference between the two
subgroups was maternal age (Table 6). The mothers with infants were signiﬁcantly
younger than the mothers with toddlers. No signiﬁcant differences were found
between the two groups with respect to the number of children in the household,
family income, the HOME and the PSI scores.
Predictors of the Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy

To determine the combined inﬂuences of the predictor variables on maternal
self-efﬁcacy, multiple regression analyses were performed. Maternal self-efﬁcacy
was assessed either by the Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale (MSES) or Toddler Care
Questionnaire (T CQ) according to the child’s age. The two maternal characteristic
variables (maternal age and mothers’ perceived parenting stress) that were
signiﬁcantly related to maternal self-efﬁcacy were entered into the regression
equations (I able 7 and 8). Especially, for mothers’ perceived parenting stress
variable, both PSI total scores using three subscales (I able 7) and one PSI subtotal
score (Difﬁcult Child, Table 8) were entered into the equations. Family income as a
covariate of maternal self-efﬁcacy was also entered in the regression equations

because the results of the preliminary correlation analyses found that it was

59

Table 5
Chi-square Analyses for Differences between the Mothers with Infants and the
Mothers with Toddlers

 

 

 

Variables Infant Toddler Group X2 (1) Prob.
Group

Sex of child
Male 10 9 1.27 .26
Female 16 7

Race
Whites 13 7
Blacks/Hispanics 1 1 7 .24 .63
Others 2 2

(Multiracial/Haitian)

Spouse/Partner
Present 13 10 .63 .43
Absent l3 6

Maternal Employment
Employed 11 10 .51 .47
Unemployed 15 6

Maternal Education
>High school/GED 16 13 1 .80 .1 8
<High school/GED 10 3

Cut-offs (ASQ)
Developmentally at risk 3 1 .07 .47
Developing typically 19 1 5

Note.

Cut-offs (ASQ)= young children’s developmental status was computed as follows: 1 =to be at risk for
development at least in one area and 2= developing typically.

60

Table 6

T-test for Differences between the Mothers with Infants and the Mothers with

 

 

 

Toddlers
Variables Mean (SD) t-value Df Prob.
Infant Toddler
(N=26) (N=16)
Maternal age 23.04 (3.82) 28.31 (7.19) -2.52 40 .016*
Family income $13,883.94 $14,323.93 -.152 40 .880
(8,936.34) , (9,277.68)
Number of 2.23(1.24) 2.69 (1.53) -1.06 40 .297
children
HOME scores 31.65 (6.04) 34.19 (4.96) -1.41 40 -1.41
PSI scores 79.46 (23.56) 90.06 (17.77) -l.55 40 .130
*p<.05 (a two-tailed test)

61

signiﬁcantly related to both the MSES (r=-.35, p<.05) and the TCQ scores (r=-.52,
p<.05). In the use of three predictor variables with the small sample size (p=l6 for
mothers with toddlers), a rule of thumb that has been accepted in the statistics area
was used. Minimum requirement is that there should be at least 4 or 5 times as many
subjects as predictors (para.4, “A Few Key Concepts and Terms for Regression”, n.d.;
“Entering Data for Multiple Regression and Correlation”, 2002).

With the mothers with infants (aged 0-12 months old), all three variables were
found to be predictive of the MSES scores (Table 7). Maternal age, family income,
and mothers’ perceived parenting stress (PSI-full scale) were found to be predictive of
the outcome measure (p<.01, p<.01, and p<.05 respectively). These three predictors
accounted for 65% of the variance in the MSES scores among the mothers with
infants. Family income appeared to contribute to the most to variance in the MSES
scores. The F value for the model was found to be signiﬁcant (p<.01).

On the other hand, the results of the regression analyses for the mothers with
toddlers (aged 13-36 months old) indicated that none of the predictors has a signiﬁcant
beta, while the three predictors explained 48% of the variance in the TCQ scores. The
F value for the model was signiﬁcant (p<.05). Among the mothers with toddlers, the
maternal characteristics including age, family income, and PSI (full scale) were not
found to be predictive of the TCQ scores. This result can be explained as follows.
Since the overall F test was found to be signiﬁcant, there is a signiﬁcant linear
relationship between the outcome variable (TCQ scores) and the entire set of predictor
variables. But, none of the regression coefﬁcients (or B coefﬁcients) that represent

the independent contributions of each predictor variable to the prediction of the

62

dependent variable was signiﬁcant. There might be a shared variance between the
other variables not entered into the regression equation and the outcome variable.
Sample size may have an effect on tests of statistical signiﬁcance. In a small sample,
statistically signiﬁcant coefﬁcients should be taken seriously, but a non-signiﬁcant
coefﬁcient is extremely weak evidence for the absence of an effect (Allison, 1999). In
addition, when the sample size is extremely small, p values for the small sample may
be only an approximation of the true p values (Allison, 1999). Both the two issues of
low power and poor approximations of test statistics (F tests) should be taken into
account for the interpretation of the regression results in this study.

When the PSI (with the one subscale-DC) was entered in the regression
equations, a similar pattern of the results was observed with one exception. Among
the mothers with toddlers, family income was found to be predictive of the TCQ

scores, though the F value for the model was not signiﬁcant (Table 8).

63

Table 7

Multiple Regression Amlvsis: Predictors of Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Measuredg
either Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale (MSES) or Toddler Care Questionnaire (TCQ)

 

 

Predictor Variables Infant Sample Toddler Sample
Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Toddler Care
Scale (MSES) Questionnaire (TCQ)
e=26i (516)

Maternal Characteristics

1. Age .58" .23

2. Family income -.60** -.36

3. PSI (Full scale) -.40* -.36
R Square .65 .48
F 1 1.87“ 426*

 

Note. Betas presented are standardized betas. ‘p<.05, “p<.01.

Table 8

Multiple Reggession Analysis: Predictors of Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Meaﬂed bY
either Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale (MSES) or Toddler Care Questionnaire (T CO)

 

 

Predictor Variables Infant Sample Toddler Sample
Maternal Self-Efficacy Toddler Care
Scale (MSES) Questionnaire (T CQ)
(2:26) a=16)

Maternal Characteristics

1. Age .60" .35

2. Family income -.61** -.48*

3. PSI (Difﬁcult Child -.32* -.02

subscale)

R Square .60 .39
F 9.36“ 2.93

 

Note. Betas presented are standardized betas. "p<.05, ”p<.01.

Mediational Role of Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy

Basic Descriptive Statistics Among the Studv Vﬂ'ables

Table 9 provides the descriptive statistics for all of the primary study variables.
There were no normative data on the two maternal self-efﬁcacy scales (MSES and
TCQ). The mean and standard deviation of each maternal self-efﬁcacy scale obtained
with this sample was presented in Table 9. This sample appeared to provide
equivalent quality home environments when the HOME scores were compared to the
standardized HOME scores (M=31.69 and SD=7.59 at 12 months). Furthermore, the
mean and standard deviation from the ASQ scores were nearly equivalent to those
achieved with the standardization sample.
Correlations Among Maternal Characteristics, Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy, and HOME

The results of the zero-order correlations among the maternal characteristic
variables (maternal demographics, mothers’ perceived parenting stress, and mothers’
perceived satisfactions with contextual factors) are presented in Table 10. Older
mothers tended to provide better quality home environments than younger mothers.
Among the mothers with toddlers, a signiﬁcant relationship between HOME scores
and TCQ scores was found (r=.40, p<.01).
Multiple Reggession Analyses

Looking at the correlation results (Table 10), the only TCQ scores were

signiﬁcantly related to the HOME scores. Among maternal characteristics of interest,
maternal age was only signiﬁcantly related to the HOME scores (Table 10). Thus, the

test of the mediating role of maternal self-efﬁcacy (T CQ) in the relationships between

65

Table 9
Descriptive Statistics for Primary Study Vagables (N42)

 

 

Variables Observed Range Mean (SD) of the sample

Self-Efﬁcacy

MSES (n=26) 26-40 33.54 (3.71)

TCQ (n=l6) 125-180 153.67 (16.91)
HOME (n=42) 20-41 32.62 (5.73)
ASQ (n=38)

Infant (0-12 months) 115-300 256.14 (47.41)

Toddler (13-36months) 190-295 236.88 (27.01)

 

Nate,

MSES= Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy of Mothers with Infants measured by the Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy Scale

(MSES)

TCQ= Maternal Self-Efficacy of Mothers with Toddlers measured by the Toddler Care Questionnaire
(T CQ)

HOME=The Quality of Parenting measured by the Home Observation for Measurement of the
Environment (HOME)

ASQ= Children’s Developmental Outcome measured by the Ages & Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). The
number of the young children who were tested on the ASQ was smaller than 42 because the four
children was too young to administer the ASQ.

66

Table 10

Correlations Among Maternal Characteristics. Matemal Self-Efﬁcacv. and HOME

 

 

 

Maternal Self-Efficacy HOME
MSES TCQ
Maternal characteristics
Age .39** .40“ .34*
Parity -.04 .39 -.01
Education .1 1 .04 .08
Family income -.35* -.52* -.08
PSI (Full scale) -.34* -.58* -.18
PSI (DC subscale) -.32* -.02 -.03
MPSCF .08 -.3 1 .23
MSES .26
TCQ .40“

 

Note. ‘p<.05, "p<.01.

67

the maternal characteristic (maternal age) and the quality of parenting (HOME) was
performed in the subgroup of mothers with toddlers. To examine the degree to which
maternal self-efﬁcacy mediated the effects of the maternal characteristics on the
quality of parenting (HOME), the data analysis steps that follow were taken. The ﬁrst
equation was estimated for predicting the TCQ scores from maternal age (Equation 1,
see Table 11). The second equation was subsequently estimated for predicting the
quality of parenting (HOME) from maternal age without the TCQ scores (Equation 2,
see Table 11). Finally, the third equation was estimated for predicting the quality of
parenting (HOME) from maternal age with the TCQ scores entered into the equation
(Equation 3, see Table 11).

To test the mediating role of maternal self- effrcacy (TCQ) in the relationship
between the maternal characteristic (maternal age) and the quality of parenting
(HOME), the following criteria for mediation outlined by Baron and Kenny (1986)
were used in this study: 1) regressing the mediator on the independent variable; 2)
regressing the dependent variable on the independent variable; and 3) regressing the
dependent variable on both the independent variable and on the mediator. These three
regression equations provide the tests of the linkages of the mediational model (Baron
& Kenny, 1986). Therefore, to establish mediation, maternal age must affect
maternal self-efﬁcacy (TCQ as a mediator) in the ﬁrst equation. Second, maternal age
must be shown to affect the quality of parenting (HOME) in the second equation.
Third, maternal self-efﬁcacy (1‘ CQ) must affect the quality of parenting (HOME) in
the third equation and the effect of maternal age must be smaller. Because the

maternal characteristics are assumed to cause the maternal self-efﬁcacy, these two

68

variables should be correlated and the presence of such a correlation results in reduced
power in the test of the coefﬁcients in the third equation (Baron & Kenny, 1986).
Contrary to expectations, the results of the three sets of mediational analyses
did not indicate evidence for mediation (T CQ) in the relationship between the
maternal characteristic (maternal age) and the quality of parenting scores on the
HOME with the sample of mothers with toddlers (Table 11). Speciﬁcally, maternal
age was not shown to affect maternal effrcacy (TCQ) (Equation 1, Table 11), though
its was shown to affect the quality of parenting (HOME) (Equation 2, Table 11).
Maternal self-efﬁcacy (TCQ) was not shown to affect the quality of parenting

(HOME) (Equation 3, Table 11).

69

Table 11

Multiple Regrjession Analysis: The Mediational Role of Maternal Self-Efﬁcacy1TCQ)
in the Relationship Between the Maternal Chapacteristic (maternal age) and the

Qualig of Parenting (HOME)

 

 

 

Predictor Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3
TCQ (p=16) HOME (a=16) HOME (r__r=16)
Age .40 .34* .32
TCQ .27
F 2.99 5.24“ 2.43
R square .16 .12 .25

 

Note ‘p<.05. Numbers are standardized regression coefﬁcient (Betas).

70

Re_lationships Among Maternal Self-Efﬁﬁcy, the HOME. the ASO

The results of zero-order correlation analyses among maternal self-efﬁcacy,
the quality of parenting (HOME), and the child developmental outcome (ASQ) are
presented in Tables 12 and 13. Moreover, the ASQ cut-offs for each developmental
area score to indicate possible developmental delays were examined in association
with maternal self-efﬁcacy and the quality of parenting (HOME). In this study, if the
children had no potential delays in any of the 5 developmental areas (communication,
gross-motor, ﬁne-motor, problem solving, and personal-social relations) in the ASQ
measure, they were identiﬁed as developing typically. On the other hand, the young
children with a developmental delay in at least one area of the ASQ measure were
considered to be at risk for development. Most of young children (34 out of 38) were
identiﬁed as developing typically. The only one toddler and three infants were
identiﬁed to be at risk for development. Due to the small cell size for each ASQ
group, correlations among cut-offs of ASQ, maternal self-efﬁcacy, and HOME scores
were not performed in the two subgroups based on the child’s age.

For the sample of mothers with infants, neither maternal self-efﬁcacy (MSES)
nor the quality of parenting (HOME) was related to the child developmental outcome
scores on the ASQ (Table 12). However, the mothers of toddlers who scored higher
on the TCQ tended to provide better home environments than their counterparts (Table
13). The more conﬁdent mothers of toddlers tended to provide better quality home

environments than the less conﬁdent mothers (r=.40, p<.05).

71

Table 12

Egrson Correlatoins Among Maternal Self-Efficacy (measured by Maternal Self-
Efﬁcacy Scale. MSES). the Quality of Parenting(HOME). and the Child
Developmental Outcome (ASQ)

 

 

MSES HOME ASQ
MSES 1
HOME .26 1
ASQ .12 .12 1

 

Note.

MSES=matemal self-efficacy scores of mothers with infants

HOME= the quality of parenting was measured by the total scores of the HOME

ASQ= young children’s developmental outcome scores on the Ages & Stages Questionnaire

Table 13

Pearson Correlations Among Maternal Self-Efficacy (measured by Toddler Cape
Questionnaire). the Quality of Parenting (P_IOME ), and the Child Developmental

Outcome (ASQ)

 

 

TCQ HOME ASQ
TCQ 1

HOME .40* 1

ASQ -.03 .1 1 1

 

mg.
TCQ= maternal self-efficacy scores of mothers with toddlers
HOME= the quality of parenting was measured by the total scores of the HOME
ASQ= young children’s developmental outcome scores on the Ages & Stages Questionnaire
#
p<.05.

72

Summary of Results

The results of the study are summarized in terms of the research hypotheses
addressed in this study.

Research Hypothesis 1.1: Mother’s level of education is related to maternal self-
efﬁcacy.

The results presented in the earlier section are not consistent with the
hypothesis. The level of mother’s education was not positively related to the mother’s
perceived conﬁdence level in parenting (maternal self-efﬁcacy) and that ﬁnding was
not consistent with those of a previous study that mothers with higher education
tended to have higher levels of self-efﬁcacy in parenting (Luster & Kain, 1987).

The same result was observed for both subgroups in the sample (Table 3). However,
when family income and family type were controlled for, maternal education was
signiﬁcantly related to maternal self-efﬁcacy among mothers of infants in the sample.
Research Hypothes_is1.2: Mother’s age is related to maternal self-efﬁcacy.

The result was consistent with the hypothesis. Maternal age was positively
related to maternal self-efficacy in this sample. Most research in this area supports the
ﬁnding that older mothers are more likely to report higher conﬁdence in parenting
than younger mothers (Gross et al., 1994). The results of the regression analyses
indicated that maternal age was found to be a signiﬁcant predictor of maternal self-
effrcacy only with the sample of mothers with infants (Table 6). The ﬁndings of this
study shed light on the importance of maternal age in the prediction of maternal self-

efﬁcacy.

73

Research Hypothesisl .3: There are relationships between mothers’ perceived
parenting stress and maternal self-efﬁcacy.

This hypothesis has found support in studies by Teti and Gelfand (1991),
Gross et al. (1994), and Tucker & Gross (1998). The results of this study partially
supported the hypothesis (Table 4). Mothers with higher levels of parenting stress
(measured by PSI total scores) tended to have lower levels of maternal self-efﬁcacy
(both MSES and TCQ scores). But, PSI one subtotal score (DC) was not signiﬁcantly
related to TCQ scores. In addition, the results of the regression analyses indicated the
mothers’ perceived parenting stress (using both the full PSI and one subscale of the
PSI) was found to be predictive of the maternal self-efficacy scores (MSES) only
among mothers with infants (Table 6).

Research Hyp_othesisl .4: There are relationships between the number of children
mothers have and maternal self-efﬁcacy.

The ﬁndings of the study failed to support the hypothesis. Previous research
ﬁndings pertaining to the relationship between parity and self-efﬁcacy (Gross et al.,
1989) revealed that prior childcare experience was a strong predictor of maternal self-
effrcacy for mothers with toddlers. The signiﬁcant correlations were not observed in
this sample.

Research Hymthesis 1.5: There are relationships between mothers’ perceived
satisfactions with contextual factors (employment, family support, community

resources, and child care experiences) and maternal self-efﬁcacy.

74

The ﬁndings of this study were not consistent with those of the previous
research (Erdwins, Casper, & Buffardi, 1998). In this study, maternal self-efﬁcacy
was not related to the mothers’ perceived satisfactions with contextual factors. There
has been minimal research attention devoted to this area. Even though this study
failed to support this hypothesis, the inﬂuence of mothers’ perceived satisfactions with
contextual factors should not be disregarded as a possible covariate of maternal self-
efﬁcacy to clarify what factors within the individual and the environment may
facilitate the development of maternal self-efﬁcacy.

Research Hyppthesis 2: Maternal self-efficacy mediates the effect of the maternal
characteristics on the quality of parenting (HOME).

Contrary to expectations, the regression analysis results failed to conﬁrm the
mediational role of maternal self-efficacy (TCQ) in the relationship between the
maternal characteristic (maternal age) and the quality of parenting (HOME) in this
sample. This ﬁnding is not consistent with those from previous studies (Luster, 1985;
Teti & Gelfand, 1991) that found that maternal self-efﬁcacy mediated the effects of
some of variables (e.g., maternal demographics, social support, and maternal
depression) on parenting behavior.

Research Hypgthesis 3: There are interrelationships among maternal self-efﬁcacy, the
quality of parenting (HOME), and the child developmental outcome (ASQ).

This hypothesis was partially supported in this sample. The mothers of
toddlers who scored higher on the TCQ tended to provide better home environments

than their counterparts (Table 13).

75

Chapter 5
DISCUSSION

This study had several research purposes. First, this study examined the
maternal characteristics that predict maternal self-efﬁcacy among the mothers of
young children from Early Head Start. Second, the role of maternal self-efﬁcacy in
mediating the effects of the maternal characteristics (maternal demographics, mothers’
perceived parenting stress, and mothers’ perceived satisfactions with contextual
factors) on the quality of parenting (HOME) was investigated. F urtherrnore,
relationships among maternal self-efficacy (MSES or TCQ), the quality of parenting
(HOME), and the child developmental outcome (ASQ) were tested. Each statistical
data analysis was performed separately for the two subgroups in the sample based on
the child’s age (Infancy vs. Toddlerhood).

The results from the correlation analyses (maternal characteristics and maternal
self-efﬁcacy) provide important implications. To date, the construct of maternal self-
efﬁcacy has been studied with a number of research paradigms, but tends not to have
been the primary research focus (Coleman & Karraker, 1997). In this study, the broad
range of the maternal characteristics was investigated to predict maternal self-efﬁcacy.
Some of the maternal characteristics were signiﬁcantly related to maternal self-
efﬁcacy, with the similar pattern of the relationships observed between the two
subgroups based on child’s age. Speciﬁcally, maternal age, family income, and
mothers’ perceived parenting stress (PSI) were signiﬁcantly related to maternal self-
efﬁcacy (measured by either the MSES or the TCQ scores). Those three variables

were also found to be predictive of the MSES scores among the mothers of infants. A

76

 

unique variance in the MSES scores was found at both the individual’s demographic
variable (explained by family income) and psychological state (explained by the
mother’s perceived parenting stress). For the mothers with toddlers, the three
maternal characteristics (age, family income, and PSI) were not found to be signiﬁcant
predictors of the TCQ scores. For this subgroup, the other factors beyond those three
variables may affect the TCQ scores. More than half of the variance (52%) in the
TCQ scores was accounted by the other factors that were not entered into the
regression equation (Table 7). In light of this evidence, the investigation of the
variables that predict maternal self-efﬁcacy conﬁrms the fact that maternal self-
efﬁcacy is not simply detemrined. But, with the extremely small size, the statistical
power and approximations (true p values) may be deteriorated. The larger sample size
will allow us to detect eﬂ’ects for a broader range of the variables in the maternal self-
efﬁcacy model.

In review of Bandura’s Self-Efﬁcacy Theory for context-speciﬁc descriptions
(Bandura, 1982; Scheel & Rieckmann, 1998), some of the ﬁndings should be noted.
The context addressed in this study was mothers of young children living in high-risk
environments. Mothers and children from high-risk environments may be vulnerable
to self-assessments in their parenting role of low self-efﬁcacy. Surprisingly, when
compared to mothers from advantaged backgrounds (white, middle class) in other
studies that also used the same measures of TCQ and MSES (Gross et al., 1994, 1995;
Teti & Gelfand, 1991), the mothers in this study who lived in high-risk environments
demonstrated that they did indeed tend to possess more positive judgments of their

capabilities in the parenting role. The measure of maternal self-efﬁcacy was obtained

77

directly from maternal reports. There may be biases in judging their maternal self-
efﬁcacy. These biases may serve as defense for the mother’s ego or reduce the stress
associated with parenting (Conrad, Gross, Fogg, and Ruchala, 1992). But, maternal
self-efﬁcacy (TCQ) was signiﬁcantly related to the HOME (I able 9) among the
mothers with toddlers. Given this evidence, the mothers of toddlers may be not
unrealistically conﬁdent (“naively conﬁdent” mothers, Davis, 1989) because the
mothers maintained conﬁdence about their parenting abilities and provided better
quality home environments (measured by the HOME).

As expected, family income was signiﬁcantly related to both maternal self-
efﬁcacy scales (MSES and TCQ scores). Surprisingly, the association found in this
study was negative in direction. Mothers with lower levels of family income tended to
have higher levels of maternal self-efﬁcacy. Any logical explanation was not
provided for this ﬁnding. Moreover, family income was found to be predictive of the
MSES scores among mothers with infants when other variables were controlled.
When the PSI measure (with the one subscale, Difﬁcult Child) was entered into the
regression equation, family income was also found to be predictive of the TCQ scores.
Most of families sampled live in poverty (M=$14,056), but it is interesting to note that
there is a great variation in family income @=$8,958). It may be possible that
higher family income may leave maternal self-efﬁcacy in parenting enhanced because
the mothers with higher income may provide more nurturing materials to their
children. This purchasing power associated with family income may affect maternal

self-efﬁcacy, though this study found a negative relationship between family income

78

and maternal self-efficacy. Future research should clarify this relationship. Such data
are needed to provide informed direction for prevention and intervention efforts with
mothers and young children from high-risk environments. The direct services tailored
to supplement family income and the provision of vocational training programs that
help low income mothers get their paid jobs may be the most appropriate interventions
to counteract deﬁcits in maternal self-efﬁcacy.

In this study, child correlates such as temperament and child problems were
not examined. But, there were signiﬁcant negative correlations between maternal self-
efﬁcacy and child related stress (Diffrcult Child subscale of the PSI, see Table 4) with
the mothers of infants. A closer investigation of the observed relationships between
child- related stress (DC) and maternal self-efficacy suggests ﬁrrther consideration.
Probably, mothers with low self-eﬂ'rcacy tend to become more sensitized to child
difficulty and these perceptions of the child difﬁcult may lead to their high levels of
perceived parenting stress. This tendency was more likely to be observed with
mothers of infants (T able 4). The PS1 child domain was found to be predictive of
maternal self-efficacy (MSES) among mothers with infants. The PS1 parent domain
(Parental Distress subscale) and the PSI child domain (Difﬁcult Child subscale) were
also signiﬁcantly related (r=.32*, p<.05) among mothers of infants. It is possible that
the reverse is also true (e.g., Teti & Gelfand, 1991). Having a difﬁcult infant makes
mothers feel less efficacious in parenting. This assumption is congruent with
Bandura’s (1995) proposition that when confronted with stress, individuals with low
estimations of personal self-efﬁcacy tend to give up easily, internalize failure, and

experience pronounced anxiety and depression. When child temperament and child

79

problems are identiﬁed as covariates of maternal self—efficacy, there may be a dynamic
interplay among maternal self—efficacy, child correlates, and parenting stress. More
research is needed to clarify this association.

This study hypothesized that maternal self-efﬁcacy would play a potential role
in mediating the effect of the maternal characteristic (maternal age) on the quality of
parenting (HOME). Because only TCQ scores were signiﬁcantly related to the
HOME, a series of the multiple regressions analyses was performed for the subgroup
of the mothers with toddlers. Also, among maternal characteristics the only maternal
age was signiﬁcantly related to the HOME. However, when maternal age was entered
into the equation, a mediation effect was not detected in this study. This ﬁnding is not
consistent with the ﬁndings of other studies, though the regression results should be
interpreted with caution because of the small sample size used in this study. Previous
research revealing the associations of interest was typically conducted with
demographically diverse samples (Gross et al., 1994 & 1995) or a sample of clinically
depressed and non-depressed mothers (T eti & Gelfand, 1991). Several explanations
are as follows. One plausible explanation is that maternal self-efﬁcacy may be
considered as one direct factor that explains the variance in the HOME rather than a
mediator in the effect of the maternal characteristic on the HOME. Another
explanation for the discrepancy between maternal characteristics and the quality of
parenting through maternal self-efﬁcacy is the demographic homogeneity (high-risk
families). Moreover, the construct of the quality of parenting behavior measured by
the HOME differs from the constructs employed in other studies to measure the

dimensions of the quality of parenting. However, it is important to note that one of

80

the main strengths associated with measuring the construct of the quality of parenting
is that this study conveys important information regarding parenting behavior because
efforts to measure dimensions of the quality of parenting were conducted in natural
home environments. This form of assessment may enhance the validity of the
assessment in that the professionally trained raters spend more time with mothers and
young children observing not only their interactions but also the quality of the
stimulation the mothers provide for their young children. Naturalistic ﬁeld studies
tend to provide insightful information with regard to the systematic contextual
conditions of characteristics of real life settings, supporting developmental phenomena
of children (Coleman et al., 2002).

The results generated from this study failed to detect the mediation effects of
maternal self-efﬁcacy in the relationships between maternal characteristic and the
quality of parenting. But, this limitation alone cannot disregard the importance of
maternal self-efﬁcacy in parenting, if maternal self-efﬁcacy is considered as one of the
direct factors that explain the variance in the HOME. This relationship was partially
supported with mothers of toddlers in this study. In particular, mothers of young
children living who are unusually burdened (e.g., lack of resources, unemployment,
single-headed household, poverty) need to build their sense of personal competence in
order to become effective parents. Therapeutic interventions designed to build
parents’ self-efﬁcacy beliefs through direct child care instruction, modeling of positive
parenting practices, and opportunities structured to maximize success in the parenting
role are in the early stages of development (Gross et al., 1995). But, the awareness of

how self-efﬁcacy beliefs have the potential to promote effective parenting under the

81

most stressful environmental demands is imperative in designing, implementing, and
evaluating of those intervention programs for mothers with young children from high-
risk environments.

The relationships among maternal self-efﬁcacy, the quality of parenting
(HOME), and the child developmental outcome (ASQ) were also examined in this
study. Intuitively, it seems reasonable that mothers who felt conﬁdent in parenting
tend to provide better quality of parenting, and in turn, their children are more likely to
beneﬁt from these circumstances. The results of the correlation analyses conﬁrmed
this expectation partially in that only the TCQ scores were related to the HOME
among the mothers with toddlers. Accordingly, even in the presence of multiple
stressors faced by the families of this study (living in high-risk environments), most of
their young children (n=34 out of 38) were identiﬁed as developing normally. The
extent to which these families are capable of creating and sustaining the quality of
home environment for young children depends on the results of interactions with the
external environments (Brofenbrenner & Ceci, 1994). From this point of view, this
might explain the current program effects (Early Head Start participation) and/or the
sleep effects from a history of their program participations. However, this study
controlled for those effects. In keeping with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model,
adoption of the basic tenets of the ecological model is crucial to an understanding of
the best intervention to promote the optimal development of young children from

high-risk environments.

82

Limitations

There are a number of limitations that must be described. Due to the small
sample size and secondary analysis of the data collected from a local Early Head Start,
the researcher is limited in generalizing the ﬁndings of the study. The correlation and
regression results should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size.
The current investigation adds to the existing literature by highlighting particular
attributes related to maternal self-efﬁcacy with implications for parenting and child
development. A larger number of signiﬁcant associations and regression coefﬁcients
may very well have been found with a larger sample and the resulting increase in
statistical power.

Maternal self-efﬁcacy beliefs and mothers’ perceived parenting stress data
were primarily obtained from one source, the mother (maternal reports). There is the
problem associated with shared method variance and its potential distortion of the
obtained results. This limitation is due to the fact that the variables examined were
focused on how the mother perceived herself in relation to her young child. Thus, the
results of this study should be regarded with caution.

Another limitation is that only maternal self-efﬁcacy beliefs were examined.
This limitation was imposed because mothers are usually identiﬁed as primary
caregivers. Even though fathers’ inﬂuences on parenting and child outcomes cannot
be disregarded, there are limited avenues that are open for fathers to discover the
important role they play in the lives of their children. The father studies help to ﬁll a
signiﬁcant gap in knowledge by increasing our understanding of how fathers and

mothers, in the context of the family, inﬂuence infant and toddler development.

83

Direction_s for Future Research

Future research should be conducted with demographically diverse samples in
testing for relationships of interest of this study. The investigation of the relations of
interest with a heterogeneous sample has the advantage of maximized variance
(Coleman et al., 2002). The child correlates were not primary interests of this study.
Exploring possible variables (i.e., child temperament, previous experience with
difficult children, acceptance of the child’s challenging disposition) and the
corresponding results may highlight the fact that parents and child experience ongoing
mutual change over time and the quality of parent-child interaction at a later time is a
function of earlier interaction (Coleman et al., 2002).

Since efﬁcacy beliefs are related to choice of behavior, and help determine
both how much effort people will expend on an activity and how long they persevere
(Bandura, 1986, 1997), the relationships among maternal self-efﬁcacy, the quality of
parenting, and the child developmental outcome are plausible. Parental efﬁcacy could
work in at least two ways to inﬂuence children’s outcomes. First, parents who believe
they are efficacious and have a role to play in their children’s education, act on that
belief in ways that build children’s sense of intellectual efficacy, which in turn
contributes to children’s academic success later (Bandura, 1997). In addition,
efficacious parents may be those who are actively involved in creating the stimulating
home learning environment. Like self-efﬁcacy, the construct of parent perceived
control that is deﬁned as a parent’s perception of personal control over their children’s
development should be examined independently, as previous research provides

empirical support for this distinction (Luster & Rhoades, 1989; Machida, et al., 2002).

84

Thus, future research should be directed toward differentiating between two concepts
in ﬁrrther investigation in the relationships among maternal self-efficacy, the quality
of parenting, and child outcome.

The present study examined the construct of maternal self-efficacy
concurrently with the measures of the PSI, the HOME, and the ASQ, assuming the
conﬁrmation of the directional effects. There is a need to focus ﬁrture research efforts
on employing a longitudinal research design. This effort enables the researcher to
explore the continuities and discontinues of maternal self-efﬁcacy in the relationships
of interest. Thus, future studies might follow Early Head Start parents through their
children’s preschool years to determine how efficacy beliefs change over time in
association with the quality of parenting and the child outcome. The Early Head Start
families sampled in this study will be post-tested on the measures of interest in future
research. As the nature of data changes, the future research design will allow us to
determine the effectiveness of the Early Head Start program for improving maternal
self-efﬁcacy, parenting stress (PSI), the quality of parenting (HOME), and the child

developmental outcome (ASQ) over time.

85

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