A Validation of the Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy (PMP S-E) Scale for Potential Parents
Location
D.P. Culp Center Ballroom
Start Date
4-5-2024 9:00 AM
End Date
4-5-2024 11:30 AM
Poster Number
163
Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor
Eric W. Sellers
Faculty Sponsor's Department
Psychology
Competition Type
Competitive
Type
Poster Presentation
Presentation Category
Social Sciences
Abstract or Artist's Statement
Psychology has long studied the concept of self-efficacy, most extensively through Bandura in his Social Cognitive Theory. Perceived self-efficacy can be described as personally assessed competence in target tasks. For individuals such as parents, perceived parental self-efficacy relates to the perception of one’s ability to properly tend to and care for a child. This internal judgment of competence in parenting has been found to have widespread impacts on caretaker-child relationships and child outcomes, making it a pertinent topic across multiple fields. The current study sought to expand the reach of perceived parenting self-efficacy research to a broader demographic by revising the Perceived Maternal Parenting Self Efficacy (PMP S-E) to survey those who have not had a child, nor currently expecting (i.e., potential parents). A current measures to evaluate the perceived parenting self-efficacy of this demographic does not currently exist. The PMP S-E was chosen for revision because of its widespread use and translation across multiple languages. The original PMP S-E is a 20-item questionnaire measured on a 4-point Likert scale. It was designed to examine how mothers perceive their ability to be good at care taking, evoking infant’s positive behavior, reading infant’s behavior, and reading their interactions with their infant. Due to the present tense of those items, “I am good at bathing my baby”, this scale has only been used for current mothers. By revising this scale with future tense wording, “I will be good at bathing my baby”, it will evaluate a potential parent’s belief of their future parental self-efficacy. To this end, two studies were conducted. The first study required participants to complete the revised PMP S-E (PMP S-Er) and the Parental Care and Tenderness (PCAT) questionnaire on REDCap. The PCAT is 25-item questionnaire rated on a 5-point Likert scale and has been highly correlated with a potential parent’s desire to have children. Questions assess caring behaviors such as, “Babies melt my heart”, and how much tenderness babies evoke, “You see a child that is sick”. Participants also completed demographic information about their desire for future children. Preliminary results have suggested higher Cronbach’s alpha than the original study. In the second study, the participant pool was expanded to collect data on all sex and genders, expanding our inclusivity to include all potential parents. Preliminary factor analysis suggests that the PMP S-Er is comparative to the PMP S-E. This study bears broad implications for the field of psychology as it provides the opportunity to access a broader demographic in the study of perceived parental self-efficacy.
A Validation of the Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy (PMP S-E) Scale for Potential Parents
D.P. Culp Center Ballroom
Psychology has long studied the concept of self-efficacy, most extensively through Bandura in his Social Cognitive Theory. Perceived self-efficacy can be described as personally assessed competence in target tasks. For individuals such as parents, perceived parental self-efficacy relates to the perception of one’s ability to properly tend to and care for a child. This internal judgment of competence in parenting has been found to have widespread impacts on caretaker-child relationships and child outcomes, making it a pertinent topic across multiple fields. The current study sought to expand the reach of perceived parenting self-efficacy research to a broader demographic by revising the Perceived Maternal Parenting Self Efficacy (PMP S-E) to survey those who have not had a child, nor currently expecting (i.e., potential parents). A current measures to evaluate the perceived parenting self-efficacy of this demographic does not currently exist. The PMP S-E was chosen for revision because of its widespread use and translation across multiple languages. The original PMP S-E is a 20-item questionnaire measured on a 4-point Likert scale. It was designed to examine how mothers perceive their ability to be good at care taking, evoking infant’s positive behavior, reading infant’s behavior, and reading their interactions with their infant. Due to the present tense of those items, “I am good at bathing my baby”, this scale has only been used for current mothers. By revising this scale with future tense wording, “I will be good at bathing my baby”, it will evaluate a potential parent’s belief of their future parental self-efficacy. To this end, two studies were conducted. The first study required participants to complete the revised PMP S-E (PMP S-Er) and the Parental Care and Tenderness (PCAT) questionnaire on REDCap. The PCAT is 25-item questionnaire rated on a 5-point Likert scale and has been highly correlated with a potential parent’s desire to have children. Questions assess caring behaviors such as, “Babies melt my heart”, and how much tenderness babies evoke, “You see a child that is sick”. Participants also completed demographic information about their desire for future children. Preliminary results have suggested higher Cronbach’s alpha than the original study. In the second study, the participant pool was expanded to collect data on all sex and genders, expanding our inclusivity to include all potential parents. Preliminary factor analysis suggests that the PMP S-Er is comparative to the PMP S-E. This study bears broad implications for the field of psychology as it provides the opportunity to access a broader demographic in the study of perceived parental self-efficacy.