An Examination of the Relationship between Mothers’ Self-Efficacy Levels and Children's Psychological Problems and Psychosocial Developments

Abstract

This research was intended to predict the self-efficacy of mothers, and the psychiatric problems and psychosocial development of childrenaccording to some variables, to determine whether there is a relationship between maternal self-efficacy and children's psychiatric problems and psychosocial development. Mothers with one-three-year-old children and who refered to Family Health Centers in Erzincan, constitute the universe of the research. Also, the sample of the research consists of 128 mothers who applied to four Family Health Centers randomly selected from Family Health Centers located in Erzincan city center. In the study, self-efficacy of mothers were stated with the Self-Efficacy Scale in Parenting Skills, and the determination of children's psychiatric symptom severity and psychosocial development problems with the Social and Emotional Assessment Scale. Correlation and regression analysis were used to evaluate the data. As a result of the research; it was determined that there was a negative and weak relationship between the self-efficacy levels of the mothers and the psychiatric symptom severity levels of the children, and there was a positive and weak relationship between the self-efficacy levels of the mothers and the psychosocial development levels of the children. It was also found that self-efficacy was a significant predictor of both children's psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial developments. In addition, only education level was found to be a meaningful predictor of mothers' self-efficacy level.