Session: The Importance of Parental Self-Efficacy for Changes in Parenting Practices: Results from Three Different Countries and Among Parents of Children in Different Ages (Society for Prevention Research 24th Annual Meeting)

SESSION INTRODUCTION: Several studies suggest that parenting has important linkages to youth risky behavior (such as delinquency and substance use) and that modifying parenting behaviors may be one important strategy for preventing development of such behaviors. A parent’s sense of efficacy or control over their environment has been shown to be important for parenting practices. There is a lack of knowledge, however, about how efficacy interacts with external factors (e.g., social support), in predicting positive parenting. Further, little is known about if and how preventive interventions may increase parental efficacy. In this symposium, we will investigate how parents’ efficacy is linked to parenting practices, as well as how interventions may increase parents’ efficacy, positive parenting, and subsequent child behaviors.

The first study examines the unique and interacting effect of parents’ efficacy and social support for parenting practices among a sample of American early adolescents and parents. The results suggest that efficacy might be important for parents’ control practices (e.g., discipline) whereas social support might be important especially for mothers’ emotional parenting practices (e.g., warmth), which has clear implications for development of prevention programs for mothers and fathers.

The second study focuses specifically on parents’ alcohol-specific rule setting and self-efficacy, both as outcomes of a prevention program among Dutch parents of children aged 12 at baseline. The results showed that targeting alcohol-specific parenting practices and adolescents’ attitudes to alcohol drinking was effective in increasing parents’ strict rule-setting about alcohol, which in turn predicted an increase in their self-efficacy.

The third study examines the impact of a universal 4-session parenting program for parenting practices and parental self-efficacy among Swedish parents of children aged 2-12 years. Results suggest that the intervention had positive effects on both parents’ efficacy and children’s health (e.g., mental and physical health and emotional development), but the strongest effects were found for parents with university-level education and parents who reported more positive mental health.

The symposium discussion will focus on the link between parents’ self-efficacy and parenting practices among parents of children in different ages and in different cultures. This will be a discussion of interest for development of prevention programs that aim to reduce youth risky behavior and improve both parents and children’s mental health.