Predictors of parental self-efficacy and its change in parents of children with an Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Parent’s self-efficacy (SE) strongly predicts parental strategies. The present study aims to 1) identify predictors of SE ; 2) identify the predictors of change in parents’ SE. The study includes three categories of predictors: the child’s characteristics (number and intensity of problems), the parent’s characteristics (age of the mother at the birth of her first child, parental stress and parental depression), and the family’s characteristics (family income and seven dimensions of family functioning). Participants are 64 parents (56 mothers; 8 fathers) and their 6 to 10-year old child (12 girls; 52 boys) with a diagnostic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Results indicate that some dimensions of the family functioning are related to parent’s SE. Parents who report that family members share chores and duties in the family and who express higher level of affective involvement also report higher level of SE. However, the intensity of communication among the family members, is related with lower parent’s SE. The age of the mother at the birth of the first child, and the clarity of roles and expectations in the family are predictors of improvements in parent’s SE.