Description
A potentially central influence on parenting is parental self-efficacy, which refers to the parent’s expectations about the degree to which he or she is able to perform effectively or competently as a parent. Parental self-efficacy has been found to play an important role in the associations of parental characteristics, child characteristics, and situational factors, with quality of parenting. However, limited work has been done to examine these relations among foster and kinship caregivers. Foster parents and foster children are at higher risk for parental stress, negative parenting practices, and increased child behavior problems compared to their non-foster counterparts. Therefore the primary goal of current study is to examine these potential correlates of parental self-efficacy among foster and kinship caregivers. Participants were 335 foster or kinship parents (92.5% female; Mage = 45.44; 47.6% Kin, 52.4% Non-kin; 40.9% Hispanic, 36.1% Caucasian, 16.4% African American, 6.6% multi/other) from San Diego County who were part of Keeping Foster Parents Trained and Supported (KEEP), a foster parent training intervention program. Data for the study were taken from baseline phone interviews of the intervention program, prior to any intervention. Participants completed interviewer administered measures of parental self-efficacy, parental stress, parenting strategies, and child behavior problems (Child Behavior Checklist; Parent Daily Report). Linear regressions were used to assess associations between parent and child characteristics and parental self-efficacy. Results indicate that both parent and child characteristics of the family were associated with parental self-efficacy levels in foster parents. Specifically, foster parents with higher levels of parental self-efficacy were less likely to use negative parenting practices (i.e., physical discipline) and evidenced lower levels of general parental stress and stress related to child behavior problems. Foster parents with lower levels of parental self-efficacy were more likely to have children with more externalizing behavior problems. The results from this research extends the current limited research on parental self-efficacy in foster and kinship parents and has implications for the potential role of parental self-efficacy in interventions specific to this population.
