Assessing Parenting Self-Efficacy of Preschoolers’ Parents During The COVID-19 Pandemic in China

Abstract

During the COVID-19 epidemic, 3-6 aged children became extremely vulnerable, and the situation of their parents remained to be explored. As prior studies have confirmed the positive correlation between parenting self-efficacy and early child development, this paper is aimed at establishing the psychometric properties of parenting self-efficacy (PSE) during-covid parenting and ascertaining the core factors that impact PSE in the Chinese educational environment. The study sample consisted of parents from central China who have children aged 3-6. The sense of self-efficacy was measured by the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale adjusted for the Chinese parenting context. The outcomes showed that the average scores maintain at a reasonably good level while the skill/knowledge domain was lower than the perceived valuing/comfort domain. Demographic variables regarding children’s characters, parents’ features and social support statistically influence the results. Practical intervention and outlook for further research are proposed to settle new challenges for parents of Chinese preschoolers.