Elsevier

Academic Pediatrics

Volume 17, Issue 2, March 2017, Pages 176-183
Academic Pediatrics

Behavior and Mental Health
The Influence of Parental Self-Efficacy and Perceived Control on the Home Learning Environment of Young Children

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2016.10.010Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

To: 1) examine sociodemographic factors associated with high parental self-efficacy and perceived control, and 2) determine how self-efficacy and control relate to the home learning environment (HLE), including whether they mediate the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and HLE, among low-income parents of young children.

Methods

Cross-sectional survey of English- and Spanish-speaking parents, 18 years of age and older, with children 15 to 36 months old, to assess parental self-efficacy, perceived control, HLE, and sociodemographic characteristics. Bivariate analysis identified sociodemographic predictors of high self-efficacy and control. Separate multivariate linear regression models were used to examine associations between self-efficacy, control, and the HLE. Formal path analysis was used to assess whether self-efficacy and control mediate the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and HLE.

Results

Of 144 participants, 25% were white, 65% were immigrants, and 35% completed the survey in Spanish. US-born subjects, those who completed English surveys, or who had higher educational levels had significantly higher mean self-efficacy and perceived control scores (P < .05). Higher self-efficacy and perceived control were associated with a positive change in HLE score in separate multivariate models (self-efficacy β = .7 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.5–0.9]; control β = .5 [95% CI, 0.2–0.8]). Self-efficacy acted as a mediator such that low self-efficacy explained part of the association between parental depressive symptoms, immigrant status, and less optimal HLE (P = .04 and < .001, respectively).

Conclusions

High parental self-efficacy and perceived control positively influence HLEs of young children. Self-efficacy alone mediates the relationship between parental depressive symptoms, immigrant status, and less optimal early home learning.

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.

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