Emotional and Social Parenting Competences Scale for Parents with Small Children

Author(s):

María Teresa Iglesias-García(presenting / submitting)Raquel-Amaya Martínez-González(presenting)María del Henar Pérez-Herrero(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Poster

Session Information

14 SES 02 A, Family Education and Parenting: Parental Views, Competences & Sensitivity

Paper/Poster Session

Time:

2016-08-23

15:15-16:45

Room:

OB-E1.17 (ALE 1)

Chair:

Loizos Symeou

Contribution

This study focuses on analysing emotional and social parenting competences of mothers and fathers with 0-6 years old children. Studying parenting competences such as emotional self-control, self-esteem, assertive communication, conflict resolution strategies and others is relevant when considering the Council of Europe Recommendation 2006/19 on Policies to Promote Positive Parenting in Europe. According to this guideline, European Union States shall support for parents bringing up and educating their children in a way which promote the full development of the latter. Thus, creating positive family relationships through assertive communication, establishing coherent norms and limits to children's behaviour, using positive strategies for conflict resolution and avoiding any kind of violence and children maltreatment is expected. These skills should be developed by both parents since the early childhood developmental stage of their children.

The family is considered the most universal social institution, the basic unit of the societies and the source of the first and more powerful influences on the human being (Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Marjoribanks, 2002). The family is understood as a social, educational and learning context which, given the adequate conditions, can contribute to human and social development through their socialization and educational function (Martínez-González, 2009; Horton, 2003).

In order families can play this social task, family diversity shall be taken into account considering, among others, personal, educational, evolutive, cultural, ethnic, religious, laboral and financial factors (Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Castelli, Mendel & Ravn, 2003; Martínez-González, Rodríguez-Ruiz & Pérez-Herrero, 2005; Paik, 2004; Symeou, 2007).

However, so far, there are few assessment scales and tools in the Spanish context useful to check parenting competences with parents of small children, taking into account family diversity (Martín, Cabrera, León & Rodrigo, 2013; Martín Quintana & Menéndez Álvarez-Dardet (2014).

In this regard, the objective of this paper is to present the psychometrics characteristics of a scale designed to assess parenting competences of parents of small children (0-6 years old). The scale can be used also for evidence-based parenting programme evaluation purposes.

On the other hand, questions regarding gender are addressed, such as, do male-fathers and female-mothers with small children show the same parenting competences?; do they differ on the matter? If so, which are the parenting competences for which they show significant statistical differences?

The parents' literacy standards is also considered in this study as a relevant variable: do parents of small children with different educational backgrounds show different parenting competences? If so, which parenting competences are associated to these different backgrounds?

From the results obtained after data analysis on these issues, discussion on the matter will be introduced, with especial reference to the Council of Europe Recommendation 2006/19 on Policies to Promote Positive Parenting in Europe.

Method

An initial scale of 69 items on parenting skills was designed following the stages indicated by the specialized literature on the matter (Kerlinger, 2002; Muñíz, 2005). After content and experts validation, a reduced 44 items scale regarding emotional self-control, self-esteem, assertive communication, conflict resolution strategies and positive discipline was built. The items were answered through a Likert scale with four options, from 1-Never to 4-Always. Data came from a Spanish random sample (Principality of Asturias, north of Spain) of 1684 parents with small children -from 0 up to 6 years old- who volunteered taking part in the study. The gender distribution was comparable: 802 male-fathers (47.62%) and 882 female-mothers (52.37%). Gender and parents' literacy standards were taken into consideration as socio-demographic variables, to check their possible association with the parenting skills analyzed. Compulsory, high school and higher education levels were considered regarding parents' literacy standards. The distribution of these categories in the sample is: 44.2% of higher education; 39.6% of high school; and 16.2% of compulsory education. The SPSS statistical package was used to analyze data. After examining the normative characteristics of the items, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to identify the structure of the scale. Cronbach's Alpha was calculated to confirm the reliability of the total scale as well as the one of each factor. Gender significant statistical differences on parenting skills were checked through Students' t (p<.05). The effect size was calculated through Cohen's d (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983). As for identifying significant statistical differences on parents' parenting skills according to their literacy level, ANOVA analysis was performed, as well as post-hoc pairwise comparisons through Scheffe's (p<.05).

Expected Outcomes

The exploratory factor analysis identified 15 items of parenting skills classified into 5 factors explaining 59.39% of the total variance: F1-"Emotional Self-Control", F2-"Self-esteem", F3-"Imposition", F4-"Communication" and F5-"Coherence when applying consequences". An optimal level of internal consistency was found for the total scale (Cronbach's α=0.72). Consequently, the instrument has proved to be adequate for identifying parenting skills of parents with children in early childhood. It can be useful for professionals working with families both with not at risk and with at risk of social exclusion. It can also be useful for evidence-base positive parenting programmes evaluation purposes. Gender comparisons identified several significant statistical differences between male-fathers and female-mothers on their respective parenting competences. In regard to parents' literacy standards, results shown significant statistical differences between parents with higher education and parents with lower educational levels. Discussion on these findings will follow taking into account the suggestions of the Council of Europe Rec. (2006) 19 on Policies to Support Positive Parenting in Europe. As for further analysis, confirmatory factor analysis will be performed on the scale. Other socio-demographic family diversity variables will be considered to check their possible association with parents' parenting competences.

References

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1986). Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspectives. Developmental Psychology (22), 6, 723-742. Castelli, S., Mendel, M., & Ravn, B. (Eds.). (2003). School, family, and community partnerships in a world of differences and changes. Gdansk, University of Gdansk, (Poland). Cohen, S., Kamarck, T. & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 24 (4), 385-396. Council of Europe (2006). Recommendation Rec(2006)19 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on Policy to Support Positive Parenting. Explanatory Report. Strasburg. Horton, C. (2003). Protective factors literature review: Early education and education programs and the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Social Policy. Kerlinger F.N. (2002). Investigación del Comportamiento. México: McGrawHill. Marjoribanks, K. (2002). Family contexts, individual characteristics, proximal settings, and adolescents’ aspirations. Psychological Reports, 91,769-779. Martín, J. C., Cabrera, E., León, J., & Rodrigo, M. J. (2013). La Escala de Competencia y Resiliencia Parental para madres y padres en contextos de riesgo psicosocial. Anales de Psicología, 29(3), 886-896). Martín Quintana, J.C. & Menéndez Álvarez-Dardet, S. (2014). Instrumentos para la Evaluación del Contexto Familiar. V Jornadas de Parentalidad Positiva. Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality http://www.msssi.gob.es/ssi/familiasInfancia/ParentalidadPos2014/docs2014/InstrumentosEvaluacion_2.pdf Martínez-González, R-A., Rodríguez-Ruiz, B., & Pérez-Herrero, M.H. (Eds.). (2005). Family-school-community partnership merging into social development. Oviedo: SM Editorial Group. Martínez González, R.A. (2009). Programa-Guía para el Desarrollo de Competencias Emocionales, Educativas y Parentales. Madrid, Ministerio de Sanidad y Política Social. Muñiz J. (2005). Classical test models. In B.S. Everitt and D. C. Howell. Encyclopedia of Statistics in Behavioral Science (Vol.1: 278-282). Chichester: UK, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Paik, S. (2004). Korean and US Families, schools and learning. In R.A. Martínez-González. & S. Paik, (Guest Editors), International Perspectives on families, schools, and communities: Educational implications for partnership. International Journal of Educational Research, 41 (1) 71-90. Symeou, L. (2007). Cultural capital and family involvement in children’s education: Tales from two primary schools in Cyprus. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(4), 473-487.

Author Information

María Teresa Iglesias-García (presenting / submitting)

University of Oviedo

Science Education

Oviedo

Raquel-Amaya Martínez-González (presenting)

University of Oviedo, Spain

María del Henar Pérez-Herrero (presenting)

University of Oviedo

Department of Educational Sciences