Disciplinary behavior of mothers of preschool children: Effects of maternal effi cacy beliefs, children’s gender and age, and mothers’ education

CARVALHO, Carla; CRUZ, Orlanda

doi:10.1590/1982-02752018000400010

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PSYCHOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT • Estud. psicol. 35 (04) • Oct-Dec 2018 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-02752018000400010 copy

Disciplinary behavior of mothers of preschool children: Effects of maternal effi cacy beliefs, children’s gender and age, and mothers’ education

Comportamentos disciplinares em mães de crianças de idade pré-escolar: efeito das crenças de efi cácia maternas, do sexo e idade das crianças e da escolaridade materna

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

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.

Keywords
Child discipline; Culture; Educational practices; Parenting; Self efficacy

Variables	Power-assertive behaviors	Non-physical punishment behaviors	Inductive behaviors
Power-assertive behaviors	-
Non-physical punishment behaviors	0.19^* * p < 0.05;	-
Inductive behaviors	-0.03	0.37^* ***** p < 0.001;	-
Power assertion effectiveness	0.57^* ***** p < 0.001;	0.28^* ***** p < 0.001;	-0.02
Non-physical punishment effectiveness	-0.01	0.67^* ***** p < 0.001;	0.35^* ***** p < 0.001;
Induction effectiveness	-0.22^ p < 0.01;	0.06	0.59^* ***** p < 0.001;
Sense of self-efficacy	-0.08	-0.04	-0.01
Child’s gender¹ 1 0: Female; 1: Male.	-0.03	0.14	0.31^ p < 0.01;
Child’s age (months)	0.27^ p < 0.01;	-0.02	0.00
Mother’s educational level	-0.31^ p < 0.01;	0.10	0.03

Predictor variables	Power-assertive behaviors				Non-physical punishment behaviors					Inductive behaviors
Predictor variables	β	t	r²adj.	F	β	t	r²adj.	F		β	t	r²adj.	F
			^0.43 ******* p < 0.001;	14.75 ^* ***** p < 0.001;		******* p < 0.001;	0.46	16.46 ^* ***** p < 0.001;		******* p < 0.001;		0.36	11.27 ^* ***** p < 0.001;
Child’s gender¹ 1 0: Female; 1: Male.	-0.03	-0.49			0.01	0.18			* p < 0.05;	0.17	2.25 ^* * p < 0.05;
Child’s age	0.19	2.78^ p < 0.01;			-0.01	-0.19				0.03	0.43
Mother’s educational level	-0.15	-2.14^* * p < 0.05;			0.07	0.96				-0.03	-0.37
Sense of self-efficacy	-0.19	-2.77^ p < 0.01;			-0.03	-0.37				-0.05	-0.65
Power assertion effectiveness	0.59	7.47^* ***** p < 0.001;			0.06	0.72				0.07	0.08
Non-physical punishment effectiveness	-0.16	-2.03			^0.72 ******* p < 0.001;	9.09^* ***** p < 0.001;				0.13	1.46
Induction effectiveness	-0.06	-0.78			^-0.21 ** p < 0.01;	-2.75 ^ p < 0.01;			******* p < 0.001;	0.51	6.32 ^* ***** p < 0.001;

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[1] Article based on the master’s thesis of C. CARVALHO, entitled “Comportamentos disciplinares, efi cácia e satisfação em mães de crianças de idade pré-escolar”. Universidade do Porto, 2014.