An examination of mothers’ self-efficacy and their interaction with their children aged 60-72 months

Abstract

The present study has the aim of examining the parental self-efficacy of mothers in terms different variables, establishing the correlation between parenting and the general self-efficacy levels of mothers and to identify the characteristics of their interactions with their children in the context of their self-efficacy. Explanatory sequential design, a mixed method, was used in this study. For the quantitative part, 251 mothers with children who are 60-72 months was involved in. The sample for the qualitative part was formed of volunteers out of the said sample and consists of 20 mothers with 20 children in total; in this group of mothers, the self-efficacy levels were determined as low (n=10) or high (n=10). The data were collected through a set of forms, namely the “Demographic Information Form”, “General Self-Efficacy Scale”, “Berkeley Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale Revised”, and “Mother-Child Interaction Games Video Records”. Statistical analyzes revealed that the total scores of mothers' self-efficacy did not differ according to their educational status and social support from their spouses, but showed a significant difference according to the gender of their children, in favor of mothers with girls. Additionally, it was found that mothers' general self-efficacy levels and parenting self-efficacy were positively related. Mothers having low parenting self-efficacy levels exhibit more behaviors gravitating towards a “focusing on success” first and foremost, followed by “sensitivity” and “play interaction”. Mothers with high parenting self-efficacy, on the other hand, exhibited behaviors towards the theme of sensitivity the most, unlike mothers with low self-efficacy in games. However, the frequency of behavior for the themes of achievement orientation and game interaction was also found to be high.