Abstract
Abstract Disciplining a child is one of the most challenging parental tasks. Efficacy beliefs contribute to make this experience more or less successful. The purpose of this study is to examine the predictive role of efficacy beliefs on maternal disciplinary behavior. A total of 128 mothers of pre-school aged children participated in this study. They were asked to complete the Parental Disciplinary Behavior Scale and the Efficacy Subscale of the Parenting Sense of Competence. Results showed that mothers use inductive behavior more frequently and perceive these behaviors as the most effective ones. Power assertion is explained by the child’s age, the mother’s educational level, her perception of parental self-efficacy and also by her maternal beliefs about the effectiveness of both power assertion and non-physical punishment. Non-physical punishment is explained by maternal beliefs regarding the effectiveness of both non-physical punishment and inductive behavior. Finally, induction is explained according to the child’s gender and the maternal belief about the effectiveness of these inductive behaviors. These results are especially relevant to the field of parenting intervention, underlining the importance of addressing efficacy beliefs to promote behavioral change.
Highlights
Article based on the master’s thesis of C
Parental disciplinary behaviors represent a form of social control; they are an important component of parenting, which is present early in children’s daily lives (Baumrind, 1997; Cruz, 2013)
Following the seminal work of Hoffman (1985), the categories of disciplinary behaviors usually reported in the literature are power assertion and induction
Summary
The PDBS consists of 16 items related to coercive and non-coercive behaviors, with a five-point response scale (1 = never, 5 = always) designed for parents to assess the frequency with which they use these behaviors when children “misbehave”. Efficacy is an instrumental dimension that reflects competence, problem-solving skills, and the ability to play the parental role and can be understood as the competence perceived by parents regarding parenting (Johnston & Mash, 1989). This subscale consists of seven items that are answered on a 6-point scale
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