The Connection Between Parental Sense of Competence and Support in Early and Preschool Children’s Upbringing / Povezanost doživljaja roditeljske kompetentnosti i podrške u odgoju djece rane i predškolske dobi

Abstract

The perception of parenthood is observed through parental attitudes and beliefs
about children and parenting. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship
between how parents perceive their own parental competencies (parental selfefficacy,
parental internal and external locus of control) and social support of
close people (friends, family and significant others), according to sex and parental
education. The study involved 194 subjects, 148 mothers and 46 fathers. A weak
connection was found between parental self-efficacy and social support. Parents
who perceive to be more self-effective estimate that they also receive more support
from their environment and vice versa. No statistically significant difference was
found in the perception of parental competence and the perception of social support
with regard to sex, but the difference was found in parental self-efficiency and the
external locus of control depending on the level of education. Parents with lower
and high school education perceive themselves to be more self-effective in the
parental role and have a larger external locus of control, compared to academically
educated parents. In conclusion, it is important to recognize parents with low selfefficacy,
i.e. lower parental competence, as well as those who estimate that they
have little support from their environment, and to direct them to the possibilities
of increasing parental competence.
Keywords: parental competence; parental self-efficacy, parental internal and external
locus of control; mothers; fathers; perceived social support.

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Doživljaj roditeljstva promatra se kroz roditeljske stavove i uvjerenja o djeci
i roditeljstvu. Cilj je istraživanja ispitati povezanost doživljaja roditeljske
kompetentnosti (roditeljska samoefikasnost, roditeljski internalni i eksternalni lokus
kontrole) sa socijalnom podrškom bliskih osoba (prijatelji, obitelj i značajni drugi)
s obzirom na spol i stupanj obrazovanja roditelja. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 194
ispitanika, 148 majki i 46 očeva. Utvrđena je slaba povezanost između roditeljske
samoefikasnostii socijalne podrške. Roditelji koji sebe doživljavaju samoefikasnijima
procjenjuju da i primaju više podrške iz svoje okoline i obratno. Nije pronađena
statistički značajna razlika po spolu u doživljaju roditeljske kompetentnosti i
percepciji socijalne podrške, no razlika je utvrđena u roditeljskoj samoefikasnosti i
roditeljskom eksternalnom lokusu kontrole ovisno o stupnju obrazovanja. Roditelji
nižega i srednjega stupnja obrazovanja percipiraju se samoefikasnijim u roditeljskoj
ulozi te imaju veći eksternalni lokus kontrole u odnosu na više i visokoobrazovane
roditelje. Zaključno, važno je prepoznati roditelje s niskom samoefikasnosti,
odnosno nižom roditeljskom kompetentnosti, kao i one koji procjenjuju malo
podrške iz svoje okoline te ih usmjeriti kako povećati roditeljsku kompetentnost.
Ključne riječi: majke; očevi; percipirana socijalna podrška; roditeljski internalni i
eksternalni lokus kontrole; roditeljska kompetentnost; roditeljska samoefikasnost.