Self-Efficacy, Stress, and Parental Adaptation: Applications to the Care of Childbearing Families

Abstract

Successful adaptation to parenthood may require that parents believe they have the ability to succeed at this challenging task Relationships of selficacy, stress, and parental adaptation were assessed during the early transition to parenthood. Mothers exceeded fathers in self-efficacy, confidence, satisfaction, and support. For mothers, stress and self-efficacy were inversely related, and self-efficacy postpartum was positively associated with partner relationship, satisfaction, confidence, and support. Forfathers, self-efficacyand stress were not related, and self-efficacy at 4 months was associated with confidence and life situation. Self-efficacy and stress as predictor variables modestly explained adaptation to parenthood. Gender predicted confidence in parenting, and the interaction of gender and self-efficacy predicted support for parenting. Strategiesforassessingandenhancingparentingself-efficacyand implicationsforfuture research are discussed.