Relationships Among Parental Self-Efficacy, Home Learning Activities, and Child Skills

Objective

To investigate relationships among parental self-efficacy, home learning activities, and children's socioemotional and language skills for preschool children.

Background

Higher parental self-efficacy is often related to better child skills and with more home learning activities. However, the relationships between parental self-efficacy, home learning activities, and children's skills have not yet been investigated.

Method

The path models draw on data from 727 parents of preschool children (full sample: 85.1% female, 50.9% employed, 24.8% non-German family language) and a subsample of 108 parents of preschool children who soon transition to elementary school in Germany. The self-report data come from the German evaluation study “Language Daycare Centers.”

Results

We found significant positive links among (a) general parental self-efficacy with home learning activities and children's language skills, (b) language supporting parental self-efficacy with home learning activities and children's socioemotional skills, and (c) a negative link between language supporting parental self-efficacy and children's socioemotional problems.

Conclusion

The more self-efficacious parents felt, the more often they offered home learning activities and the higher they rated their children's language skills at age 5 years.

Implication

The findings highlight the importance of parental self-efficacy for engaging with children and the positive parental assessment of children's skills. Promoting parental self-efficacy might stimulate home learning activities and improve the home learning environment.