Transactional Relationships between Parental Self-Efficacy, Parental Attributions, and Parenting Behaviors during Moment-to-Moment Parenting Situations

Abstract

This is the first study to investigate transactional relationships between parental self-efficacy, parental attributions, and parenting behaviors in moment-to-moment parenting situations. Short term variations of these parental constructs and the role of child responses on their relationships were also examined. Dutch mothers (N=361) of toddlers (24-48 months old) completed an online experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to 4 conditions varying in received child responses (all positive, half positive with half negative, half negative with half positive, and all negative, see Table 1). They first were presented with a scenario of a child-misbehavior and items measuring situational PSE, parental (child-responsible and parent-causal) attributions, and parenting behaviors. Next, participants received a positive or negative child response depending on their condition. This procedure was repeated 8 times with different scenarios. Concerning the hierarchical data structure, multilevel analyses were performed using HLM6. Results showed that when facing repeated difficult situations, mothers’ PSE, child-responsible attributions and positive parenting behaviors decreased, and parent-causal attributions increased. Mothers with more child-responsible attributions had lower PSE in the next situation. Lower PSE, in turn, predicted more child-responsible attributions and less positive parenting behaviors consequently. Parent-causal attributions were not correlated with other variables. Thus a transactional relationship was only found between PSE and child-responsible attributions. Child responses did not influence these relationships. These findings provide insight into the transactional process of parenting and highlight the importance of child-responsible attributions and PSE in influencing parenting behaviors in moment-to-moment situations.