Behavior and Mental HealthThe Influence of Parental Self-Efficacy and Perceived Control on the Home Learning Environment of Young Children
Section snippets
Study Design and Participants
We surveyed English- and Spanish-speaking parents of healthy children aged 15 to 36 months, recruited from an urban primary care clinic and 3 Women, Infants, and Children nutrition centers in the Boston area. These recruitment sites serve a diverse population of US-born and immigrant families from Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. Potential participants were excluded if they were younger than 18 years old, or if the index child had a significant medical condition
Results
Overall, the sample was racially and ethnically diverse with one-quarter of participants who identified as white and more than half born outside of the United States (Table 1). The mean child age was 25 months and mean parent age was 30.9 years. More than half of the sample had a high school degree or less, nearly half (44%) were unemployed, and 82% received public assistance. Distribution of self-efficacy, control, and HLE scores are presented in Table 2. Tests of collinearity between
Discussion
This study showed an association between parent characteristics, including US-born status and higher educational attainment, and higher levels of self-efficacy and perceived control. When adjusting for covariates in separate models, we found high self-efficacy and control to be associated with a more enriching HLE. In a combined model of key parent characteristics predictive of the HLE, we found that self-efficacy alone acted as a mediator of the association between fewer parental depressive
Conclusion
High parental self-efficacy and perceived control are associated with positive and stimulating HLEs among vulnerable families with young children. Self-efficacy acts as a mediator of the association between certain parent characteristics (immigrant status and depressive symptoms) and quality of the HLE. Future studies are needed to understand the dynamic nature of parental self-efficacy in the first 3 years of a child's life, and explore whether changes in the delivery of routine pediatric care
Acknowledgments
Financial disclosure: This work was supported by the Academic Pediatrics Association Bright Futures Young Investigators Award (U04MC07853), and Health Resources and Services Administration T32 HP10028 (IO#9940000730).
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The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.