USING SELF-EFFICACY THEORY TO EXPLAIN MATERNAL CONFIDENCE DURING TODDLERHOOD.

Description

The usefulness of self-efficacy theory for explaining maternal confidence during toddlerhood was examined. Fifty mothers of toddlers completed questionnaires on maternal confidence, knowledge of infant development, toddler temperament, family background and social desirability response bias. Each mother was also videotaped during a structured interaction with her toddler. A subsample of mothers were interviewed regarding factors that influenced their confidence. Maternal confidence (MC) was positively correlated with maternal age (r =.33, p $<$.01) and knowledge of infant development (r =.33, p $<$.01). MC was negatively correlated with mothers' reports of toddler developmental delay (r =.28, p $<$.02) and perceptions of difficult toddler temperament along 6 dimensions: mean scores for mood (r = $-$.30, p $<$.01) and adaptability (r = $-$.23, p $<$.05); general impressions of toddlers' adaptability (r = $-$.43, p $<$.001), mood (r = $-$.40, p $<$.002) and reactions to novel situations (r = $-$.27, p $<$.03); and global ratings of difficult toddler temperament (r = $-$.46, p $<$.001). Mothers were divided into three groups according to their knowledge of infant development. Within each group the relationship between MC and quality of mother-toddler interactions was examined. Among the most knowledgeable mothers, MC was positively associated with quality of interactions, whereas among the least knowledgeable mothers MC was negatively associated with quality of interactions. These results were not statistically significant due to the small sample sizes in each group. The inter-relationships among MC, knowledge of infant development, perceptions of toddler temperament and quality of mother-toddler interactions were consistent with predictions based on self-efficacy theory.

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