Exploring how adolescent boys' and girls' internalizing and externalizing behaviors impact parental self-efficacy: A vignette study

Abstract

Objective: We examine the effect of children's sex and behaviors on parents' level of parental self-efficacy (PSE). Background: PSE is a fundamental predictor of effective and positive parenting. Child characteristics could influence PSE and can help in understanding why some parents feel lower PSE. Method: We randomly assigned 1,020 American parents to read one of four vignettes describing a 16-year-old boy or girl with either externalizing or internalizing behaviors. Then, parents reported on their level of PSE for this hypothetical adolescent. We ran analyses of variance, including the sex of parents' focal child (6th–12th grade) as a factor. Results: Parents reported higher levels of PSE for girls and for externalizing behaviors than for boys and internalizing behaviors, respectively. A three-way interaction (vignette behavior × vignette sex × focal child's sex) was significant for the level of PSE. Parents whose focal child was a boy reported higher levels of PSE if they read a vignette of a boy with externalizing behaviors than if they read a vignette of a boy with internalizing behaviors. This was not found for parents whose focal child was a girl. Conclusion: The results gave partial support for a sex-incongruent hypothesis, as parents might find it easier to relate to the problems described if they have at least one child of the same sex as the vignette child. Implications: These results offer a test of the effect of children's sex and behavior on PSE that has been lacking in the PSE literature.