Poster #81 - Parents’ Emotional Functioning and Feelings of Self-Efficacy: Implications for Children’s Academic Success

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Parent involvement refers to parents’ engagement in behaviours aimed to promote children’s learning (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005). Past research has shown a positive association between parental involvement in children’s learning and children’s academic achievement (Englund, Luckner, Whaley, & Egeland, 2004). Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1997, 2005) proposed a model of parent involvement in which parent self-efficacy, that is, their belief in their own ability to help their child learn, predicts their level of involvement in their child’s education. Understanding factors relating to parents’ self-efficacy will help inform interventions aimed at improving parents’ involvement in their children’s education which, consequently, will lead to more positive academic outcomes in children.
Previous research has demonstrated a link between parent emotion regulation (ER) abilities and various child outcomes associated with academic success, such as school readiness, ability to regulate emotions, and ability to persevere in stressful and complex situations, and prosocial behaviours that facilitate successful peer relationships (Bucsea, Kosmerly, & Rogers, 2017; Dennis, 2006; Fabes, Leonard, Kupanoff, & Martin, 2001).
In light of previous research revealing the predictive effects of parents’ emotional functioning on parents’ self-efficacy (Gondoli & Silverberg, 1997), as well as their involvement in children’s learning (Kohl, Lengua, & McMahon, 2000), the present study examines whether mothers’ self-efficacy regarding their involvement in their child’s learning mediates the relationship between parents’ ER abilities and children’s academic outcomes.
One hundred and ten families of preschool-aged children were recruited from the community. At Time 1, during children’s preschool years, mothers completed the Self-Efficacy subscale of the Parent Involvement Project Parent Questionnaire (PIPQ) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Preschool children participated in a standardized clinical measure of school readiness, the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (Speed DIAL-4), which assessed basic motor, concept, and language skills. At Time 2, upon entering school, children’s junior kindergarten teachers completed the Academic Competence Evaluation Scale (ACES), measuring children’s interpersonal skills, classroom engagement, and levels of academic motivation.
Mediation analyses revealed that mothers’ self-efficacy regarding their involvement in their child’s learning mediated the relationship between mothers’ ER difficulties and children’s school readiness at Time 1, as well as, longitudinally, children’s level of academic motivation in their first kindergarten year at Time 2. Specifically, mothers who reported more ER difficulties also reported less feelings of self-efficacy, which subsequently predicted diminished school readiness in children at Time 1, as well as less academic motivation in kindergarten at Time 2.
The current findings inform the development of interventions aimed at improving children’s academic outcomes. It has been demonstrated that children benefit academically when their parents are involved in their education; however, factors impacting parents’ involvement levels are not fully understood. The current results suggest that interventions should aim to support parents’ development of adaptive ER abilities, as well as foster parents’ feelings of self-efficacy. Providing parents with these skills will promote their involvement in their children’s learning, and ultimately, enhance children’s chances of academic success.

Authors

• Oana Bucsea, York University
  Presenting Author

• Stacey Kosmerly, University of Ottawa
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Rogers, University of Ottawa
  Non-Presenting Author