The influence of perceived parental involvement on parenting self-efficacy among parents with middle childhood children

This study aimed to determine the influence of three dimensions of parental involvement, which are expressive, instrumental and mentoring/ advising together on parenting self-efficacy. This research also discussed the dimension which was the most powerful predictor of parenting self-efficacy among parents with middle childhood children. This quantitative study was done by adapting Self-Efficacy for Parenting Task Index (SEPTI) to measure parenting self-efficacy, while Father/ Mother Involvement Scale – Reported (F/MIS-R) was used to measure parental involvement. The participant were 306 parents (aged 25-45 years) with children in middle childhood (aged 5 - 12 years) consisting of 152 fathers and 154 mothers. Participants obtained by convenience sampling technique. The results indicated that three dimensions of parental involvement together significantly influenced Parenting Self-Efficacy both in father (R2=.313. F (3,148) = 23,962, p<0.01) as well as mother (R2=.246. F (3,150) = 17 612, p<0.01). This research also found that the dimensions of mentoring/ advising on father (β=.420, p<0.01) and expressive dimension on mother (β=.262, p<0.05) are the most powerful predictor of parenting self-efficacy among parents with middle childhood children. The implications of this research can be used for parents with middle childhood children and will be discussed in this article.