Single Mothers' Self-Efficacy, Parenting in the Home Environment, and Children's Development in a Two-Wave Study

Abstract

Using data from a sample of 178 single black mothers and their young children who were ages three to five at time 1 and ages five to eight at time 2, this study examined the links between and among low-wage employment, mothers' self-efficacy beliefs, depressive symptoms, and a constellation of parenting behaviors in the preschool years to children's cognitive and behavioral functioning in early elementary school years. In general, the results supported a model in which the influence of mothers' employment on maternal parenting and child outcomes was largely indirect and mediated by perceived self-efficacy. Employment was related directly to higher self-efficacy, which in turn was associated with decreased depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were associated with the quality of the mother—nonresident father relationship and the latter with the frequency of nonresident fathers' contacts with their children. More contact between nonresident fathers and their children predicted more adequate maternal parenting, which in turn was associated directly with the children's subsequent behavioral and cognitive functioning in early elementary school. The results are discussed in the context of social cognitive theory and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.