To Örebro University

What function does parental self-efficacy have for parenting behaviors and children's adjustment, and what explains individual variations in parents' self-efficacy? Parental self-efficacy involves parents' beliefs about their influence on their children and this systematic review presents results from 35 empirical studies published between 2003 and 2022 among parents of school-aged children and adolescents. First, the studies in this review show a bi-directional association between parental self-efficacy and positive parenting, and some empirical evidence that parental self-efficacy influences children indirectly, via parenting. The few longitudinal studies examining associations between parental self-efficacy and child behaviors suggest that self-efficacy might emerge as a reaction to children's behaviors. Second, many child, parent, and sociocultural factors were shown to predict parental self-efficacy (e.g., child gender and age, parents' psychological well-being, and socio-economic status), and results suggest that these associations are similar across multiple countries and age groups. Finally, studies reporting on parental self-efficacy at different time points or a correlation between self-efficacy and the child's age suggested that parental self-efficacy decreases over the school-age and adolescent period. This review shows the complex role of parental self-efficacy in associations with parent and child factors, and it also highlight questions to address for future research.

Little is known about the developmental trajectories of parental self-efficacy as children transition into adolescence. This study examined parental self-efficacy among mothers and fathers over 3 1/2 years representing this transition, and whether the level and developmental trajectory of parental self-efficacy varied by cultural group. Data were drawn from three waves of the Parenting Across Cultures (PAC) project, a large-scale longitudinal, cross-cultural study, and included 1178 mothers and 1041 fathers of children who averaged 9.72 years of age at T1 (51.2% girls). Parents were from nine countries (12 ethnic/cultural groups), which were categorized into those with a predominant collectivistic (i.e., China, Kenya, Philippines, Thailand, Colombia, and Jordan) or individualistic (i.e., Italy, Sweden, and USA) cultural orientation based on Hofstede's Individualism Index (Hofstede Insights, 2021). Latent growth curve analyses supported the hypothesis that parental self-efficacy would decline as children transition into adolescence only for parents from more individualistic countries; parental self-efficacy increased over the same years among parents from more collectivistic countries. Secondary exploratory analyses showed that some demographic characteristics predicted the level and trajectory of parental self-efficacy differently for parents in more individualistic and more collectivistic countries. Results suggest that declines in parental self-efficacy documented in previous research are culturally influenced.

A challenge for professional psychology programs is the assessment of students' professional competence. Despite its potential, objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) has not gained widespread use in the psychological field. However, at Ume & aring; University and & Ouml;rebro University in Sweden, the OSCE has been introduced at the Clinical psychology programs to assess professional competence. The aim of this study was to explore students' perceptions of whether and how, preparing for and performing the OSCE benefits their professional learning and prepares them for clinical practice. A web-based questionnaire was administered to 88 psychology students who completed the OSCE and field training. Most of the students perceived the OSCE as a valuable experience that benefits their learning. The OSCE prepared them for clinical practice through practical hands-on training, and by providing essential experience in client interaction, increasing students' confidence in the role as a psychologist. Students also reported that feedback from the OSCE was crucial for their ongoing learning, but that the authenticity of the examination can be improved. Based on these findings, recommendations for future OSCEs in professional psychology include appropriate preparations, providing constructive feedback as well as striving for high authenticity in the tasks of the OSCE stations.

In this study, we examined parents' online activities and whether engagement in specific activities attracts certain parents. Additionally, we examined sub-groups of parents regarding their difficulties to interpret and deal with online information. We used a sample of 401 parents of children below the age of five living in Sweden. The results showed that most parents used the Internet frequently, but there were differences in what activities parents were involved in. In general, results suggested that mothers and parents of younger children used the Internet more to find information about parenting related issues compared to fathers and parents of older children. Mothers seemed to rely more on online information in their parenting role than did fathers, but at the same time, they reported more troubles dealing with the information they found online. Additionally, parents with higher education read parenting blogs whereas parents with lower education posted photos and information on Social Networking Sites (SNS). The results of this study offer important knowledge regarding variations in parents' online use and might be used to develop support offered to different groups of parents.

Objective: We examine the effect of children's sex and behaviors on parents' level of parental self-efficacy (PSE).

Background: PSE is a fundamental predictor of effective and positive parenting. Child characteristics could influence PSE and can help in understanding why some parents feel lower PSE.

Method: We randomly assigned 1,020 American parents to read one of four vignettes describing a 16-year-old boy or girl with either externalizing or internalizing behaviors. Then, parents reported on their level of PSE for this hypothetical adolescent. We ran analyses of variance, including the sex of parents' focal child (6th-12th grade) as a factor.

Results: Parents reported higher levels of PSE for girls and for externalizing behaviors than for boys and internalizing behaviors, respectively. A three-way interaction (vignette behavior x vignette sex x focal child's sex) was significant for the level of PSE. Parents whose focal child was a boy reported higher levels of PSE if they read a vignette of a boy with externalizing behaviors than if they read a vignette of a boy with internalizing behaviors. This was not found for parents whose focal child was a girl.

Conclusion: The results gave partial support for a sex-incongruent hypothesis, as parents might find it easier to relate to the problems described if they have at least one child of the same sex as the vignette child. Implications These results offer a test of the effect of children's sex and behavior on PSE that has been lacking in the PSE literature.

The internet constitutes an important platform for parents to find information. How online information searching is linked to parental self-efficacy (PSE)-defined as parents' perceptions about their abilities to have a positive impact on their children-is still unknown. This two-wave study examined cross-lagged associations between PSE and parents' online information searching, as well as the prospective effect of perceived information overload on PSE and online information searching. Moreover, we examined whether these associations differed depending on the online context (governmental-run or nongovernmental-run websites). We used a sample of 214 parents of children (equal number of boys and girls) <4 years (85% of the parents were mothers and 93% were born in Sweden), who completed an online survey twice, 1 year apart. The results showed that parents who felt more efficacious at T1 reported a decrease in online information searching over time. The frequency of parents online searching, however, did not predict changes in PSE. In addition, the effects of information overload depended on the type of websites parents used. Among parents who used both types of websites to search for information, higher information overload was linked with increases in information searching and decreases in PSE over time. The results suggest that perceptions of low self-efficacy and feelings of overload might motivate parents to use the internet more to search for information.

Parents' social comparisons on social networking sites (SNS) is a research area of growing interest. In this study, we examined parents' positive and negative feelings when comparing with other parents and associations with self-reported distress (i.e., stress and depression) and self-efficacy. We used a sample of 422 Swedish parents of children below the age of five (M-age = 1.29 years). In a first step, we examined construct validity of two new measures on parents' positive and negative feelings when doing comparisons on SNS. In a second step, we examined associations with self-reported parenting. Results showed that parents reported more positive feelings than negative feelings in relation to other parents on SNS. Further, negative feelings when doing social comparisons were linked to more distress and lower level of self-efficacy, whereas positive feelings when doing social comparisons predicted higher level of self-efficacy, but not distress. These results suggest that negative feelings are related to lower actual levels of distress and self-efficacy, but positive feelings can have an instant positive effect on parents' perceived competence, but not on their well-being. Practitioners can encourage parents to reflect on who they compare with on SNS and why, as it might enable evaluations that could lead to self-improvement rather than weakening of oneself as a parent.

Using short-term longitudinal data, the primary goal of the present study was to examine the interplay between adolescents’ sports-related intrapersonal (e.g., sports values) and interpersonal factors (e.g., perceived parental involvement) in relation to sports dropout. A secondary goal was to explore the direction of effects in the association between intra- and interpersonal factors. A total of 420 adolescents (39% girls, Mage = 14.06; SDage = 0.33) responded to a set of survey questions over two consecutive years. Results from structural equation modeling suggested that parental involvement predicted adolescents’ dropout one year later, via sports values. Further, the results suggested that the direction of influence is mainly from parents to adolescents. Overall, the findings indicate that adolescents whose parents attend their practices and games perceive sports activities as fun, important and useful; as a result, adolescents are less likely to dropout. The findings offer an improved understanding of how parents’ behaviors may influence adolescents’ dropout of organized sports.

Parenting and parent-child relationships in Western countries have undergone notable changes over recent decades. Parents today generally spend more time with their children and use less harsh discipline compared to parents over 50 years ago. Less is known about trends in parental beliefs over this time period. In this study, we examined differences in parental self-efficacy (PSE) between parents of young adolescents from two samples, one collected in 1999/2000 and one in 2014. We focused specifically on PSE concerning children's school adjustment and other behaviors outside the home. Results showed that although the meaning of PSE was the same at both time points (i.e., the latent PSE factor showed equivalence across the samples), parents in the 2014 sample reported significantly lower levels of PSE than did parents in the 1999/2000 sample. This difference contrasts with trends concerning parenting practices and is discussed in relation to societal changes over this time period, such as changes in expectations and societal pressure on parents, and in technology, including social media. This study adds to research on trends in parenting, suggesting that parents in Western countries feel less efficacious in promoting certain positive behaviors among young adolescents compared to parents 15 years ago.

Child-invested contingent self-esteem (CSE), or the extent to which parents derive their self-esteem from their children's accomplishments, has wide implications for parents and the parenting context. This study investigates links between CSE and parenting behaviors and beliefs and differentiates between CSE based on children's success versus failure. It also examines whether associations vary across ethnicity/race. Recruited through Qualtrics, participants were 1077 parents (50% fathers; 65% White, 16% Latinx, 13% Black; 6% Asian American) of children (55% boys) in 6(th)-12(th) grade. Structural Equation Modeling shows that parents who based their self-esteem on their children's failures tended to also practice negative parenting behaviors and hold negative parental beliefs. However, parents who based their self-esteem on children's successes reported positive behaviors and beliefs. Interactions suggest that CSE-success counteracts negative associations between CSE-failure and parenting, at least for White and Black parents. Additional differences across ethnicity/race and related implications are discussed.