Mothers' Perceptions of Their Competence in Managing Selected Parenting Tasks

Author(s): Cathryn Brackett Ballenski and Alicia S. Cook

Source: Family Relations, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Oct., 1982), pp. 489-494
Published by: National Council on Family Relations
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Mothers' Perceptions of Their
Competence in Managing Selected
Parenting Tasks
CATHRYNBRACKETTBALLENSKIAND ALICIAS. COOK*

Mothers' perceptions of their competence in managing selected parenting tasks

were examined for five stages of parenting (Infancy, Toddlerhood, Preschool, School-
age, and Adolescence). Subjects were selected from a list of mothers who had
scheduled appointments for their children at a private pediatric office. Overall, these
mothers reported feeling highly competent in most areas of parenting; however, each
stage presented unique challenges. Mothers of adolescents felt the least comfort-
able about their effectiveness in their parenting role. The findings are discussed with
regard to their implications for parent education programs.

The key role of parents in fostering positve
development in their children has long been
recognized. Effective parenting includes the
ability to perform specific tasks related to
children's needs. The tasks of parenting are
most appropriately discussed in terms of a
child's age. Children at each stage of develop-
ment have specific developmental needs, and
parents' role demands change with the
development of their children (Duvall, 1971).
While family specialists have stressed the
importance of preparation for the parenting
role, little information is available on the tasks
that are most difficult for parents as they raise
a child from infancy to adolescence. According
to Bartz (1978), an effective parent education
program is one that is relevant to the needs of
parents. Therefore, identification of areas in
which parents feel inadequate is necessary to
enable professionals to design parent educa-
*CathrynBrackett Ballenski is a former graduate student
and Alicia S. Cook is Associate Professor in the Departmentof
Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State
University,Fort Collins, Colorado80523.
Key Concepts: Parenting,parental tasks, parent education,
maternalcompetence.
(FamilyRelations, 1982, 31, 489-494.)
tion programs that can support parents and im-
prove parenting skills. The present study in-
vestigated the perceptions of mothers at five
stages of parenting regarding their feelings of
competency in performing selected parenting
tasks.
Method
Sample
A sample of 278 names was selected from a
list of mothers who scheduled appointments
for their children during a 10 consecutive day
span at a private pediatric office. Criteria for
selection were based on having an oldest child
who was not more than 18 years of age and
who had no chronic illness, mental disability,
or physical handicap which altered normal
development. Using a developmental stage ap-
proach based on the age of the oldest child,
the subjects were divided into five parenting
stages-Infancy (birth to 13 months), Tod-
dlerhood (14 to 36 months), Preschool (3 to 5
years), School-age (6 to 12 years), and Adoles-
cence (13 to 18 years). Over 900% of the
mothers were married, Caucasian, of moderate
income, and had completed high school.
Development of the Instrument
The investigators desired to collect data on a

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fairly large sample obtained from a busy
medical office in a manner that would not
disrupt the patients' care. Therefore, a mailed
questionnaire was used in the collection of the
data. The questionnaire was designed to
measure mothers' perceptions of their own
competencies in parenting. Five forms of the
questionnaire (Infancy, Toddlerhood, Pre-
school, School-age, and Adolescence) were
developed, corresponding to the five stages of
parenting. Each form contained items related
to stage-appropriate parenting tasks.
Identification of appropriate items for each
form was begun by reviewing numerous
sources of literature for discussions of paren-
tal tasks. The primary sources used were
Duvall (1971) and Havinghurst (1972). Other
sources included: Aldous (1978), Bigner (1979),
the Boston Women's Health Book Collective
(1978), the Denver Developmental Screening
Test (Frankenburg, Dodds, & Fandal, 1970),
LeMasters (1974), Salk (1972), Spock (1962),
Thornburg (1977), and Tryon and Lilienthal
(1950). Using information gathered from this
literature, lists of stage-appropriate parenting
tasks were constructed. These lists were then
given to professionals (pediatricians and fam-
ily specialists) and experienced parents (both
mothers and fathers) for comments, deletions
and additions. Each form was then pilot tested
on mothers having an oldest child in one of the
five stages. A second draft of each form was
then constructed and reviewed by profes-
sionals in the field of child development and
family relations. The second draft was also
pilot tested on two mothers who had never had
any formal parent education training in an ef-
fort to screen for terminology problems and
socioeconomic biases. Minor modifications
made at this point resulted in the final version
of the instrument for use as a tool in assessing
parents' views of their competency in their
parenting role.
The forms varied in length from eight items
(Infancy) to 14 items (Adolescence). Six levels
of available response ranging from "always
comfortable" to "never comfortable" were pro-
vided for each item. The Likert-type scale
allowed responses to be coded with values of
one to six. A "does not apply" category was
also included but was not used in the scoring
procedure. Mothers were asked to indicate
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how comfortable they felt with their ability to
manage each of the specified tasks.
Reliability. A subsample of 35 mothers was
randomly selected from the larger sample to
measure the reliability of responses through a
test/retest procedure. Each of the five parent-
ing stages was represented in this subsample.
The majorityof these mothers were given their
first questionnaire in the pediatric office; all
others were contacted by phone by the in-
vestigators before the questionnaire was
mailed. This contact allowed for immediate
confirmation of the age of their oldest child
and aided in gaining their cooperation in the
reliabilitytesting of the instrument. Two weeks
after receiving the first questionnaires from
the mothers, the investigators mailed them a
second questionnaire. A test/retest interval of
two weeks was used to increase the prob-
ability of measuring the participants' current
perceptions while reducing mothers' recall of
their responses on the first questionnaire.
Identical copies of the forms were used at each
measurement period.
Of the 35 mothers used in the test/retest pro-
cedure, 23 returned both the first and second
questionnaire. The response rate within the
subsample was 66%. A Pearson product-
moment correlation coefficient was computed
to compare mean responses of mothers at the
beginning and end of the two week period. A
coefficient of .85 was obtained, significant at
the .001 level, which indicates a high degree of
consistency in responses.
Procedure
All mothers in the study were mailed a ques-
tionnaire appropriate to the age of their oldest
child. A cover letter explaining the purpose of
the study and a stamped, returnenvelope were
included with the questionnaire. Of the 278
subjects, 157 returned their questionnaires
which were then used in the statistical analysis
of the data, a 56% return rate.
Results
Perceptions of Competency
Perceptions of mothers of their competency
in parenting tasks were analyzed within each
parenting stage. Table 1 shows responses to
items for each group. Mean ratings for each
item are provided. Items are listed in ab-
October`1982
 Table 1
Mothers' Mean Ratings of Parenting Tasksa
Parenting Mean Mean
Stage Parenting Tasks Rating Parenting Tasks Rating
Infancy Weaning 2.7 Setting limits 2.1
(N = 30) Financial pressures 2.6 Understanding the child's
Patterns of eating and needs 2.0
sleeping 2.1 Adjusting to self and
Defining each parent's role 2.1 spouse as parents 1.9
Caring for physical needs 1.4
Toddlerhood Toilet training 3.0 Child's independence 2.0
(N = 24) Stubborn "no's" 2.8 Social interaction skills 1.9
Eating habits 2.8 Physical protection 1.7
Financial pressures 2.4 Walking 1.7
Setting limits 2.2 Personal cleanliness 1.4
Learning to be away from Talking 1.3
mother 2.1
Preschool Helping child control Learning to be away from
(N = 42) emotions 2.5 mother 2.0
Discipline 2.4 Social interaction skills 1.9
Financial pressures 2.3 Relations with other adults 1.8
Eating habits 2.2 Conscience development 1.7
Toilet training 2.2 Numbers and letters 1.4
Setting limits 2.1
Child's independence 2.1
Sex role identity 2.1
School-age Child's independence 2.6 Social interaction skills 2.1
(N = 46) Child's friends 2.5 School skills 1.9
Discipline 2.4 Responsibilities of school 1.9
Decision-making 2.4 Conscience development 1.8
Setting limits 2.3 Values training 1.8
Financial pressures 2.2
Puberty 2.2
Privacy demands 2.2
Adolescence Child's moodiness 3.4 Decision-making 2.6
(N = 15) Discipline 3.1 Establishing direction 2.6
Child's independence 3.1 Peer pressures 2.4
Setting limits 2.9 Social responsibility 2.2
Financial pressures 2.9 Sexual pressures 2.1
Responsibilities of school 2.9 Privacy demands 1.9
Preparing to leave home 2.9 Drugs and alcohol 1.7
aScores ranged from 1 to 6. Values were assigned as follows: 1-always comfortable, 2-usually
comfortable, 3-often comfortable, 4-sometimes comfortable, 5-hardly ever comfortable, 6-never
comfortable.

breviated form and in order of difficulty as
perceived by mothers in the sample.
All mean ratings of mothers of infants fell
into the often, usually comfortable, or always
comfortable categories. The question on car-
ing for physical needs of the infant received
the most positive mean competency rating
(1.4). While all mean responses fell on the
positive side of the response spectrum, some
areas of difficulty were identified. Twenty-
seven percent of the mothers felt less than
often comfortable about "handling financial
pressures" (2.6), and 13% felt hardlyever com-
fortable with "weaning" (2.7). It should be
noted, however, that 33% of the mothers
marked that weaning did not yet apply to their
situation.
Mothers of toddlers responded between 1.3
("helping your child learn to talk")and 3.0 ("ac-
complishing toilet training"), resulting in a
slightly broader range of responses than was
found for mothers of infants. The toddlerhood
stage included several questions which fell
into the negative side of the response spec-
trum. The two items having responses in the
never comfortable category were "accom-
plishing toilet training" (3.0) and "establishing
good eating habits" (2.8). Twenty-nine percent
of the mothers felt only sometimes, hardly
ever, or never comfortable about "accom-

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plishing toilet training," and an additional 25%
responded that this item was not applicable to
them. Twenty-five percent of the mothers
reported difficulty regarding the establishment
of good eating habits. Another category in
which a substantial percentage of mothers felt
less than often comfortable was "handling the
stubborn stage of no's" (2.8), for which 29%
felt sometimes or hardly ever comfortable.
Another 17% indicated that they were not ex-
periencing the stubborn stage of no's. Twenty-
one percent of the mothers reported being
sometimes and hardly ever comfortable
"handling financial pressures" (2.4).
Mothers of preschoolers had the strongest
overall feelings of competency. No more than
15% of the mothers felt less than often com-
fortable in any area. The items which elicited
the least comfortable responses were "helping
your child learn to control his/her emotions"
(2.5), "finding a comfortable method of dis-
ciplining your child" (2.4), and "handling finan-
cial pressures" (2.3). The most positive mean
rating (1.4) was given to "helping your children
learn numbers and letters."
For mothers of school age children, the two
items receiving the least comfortable re-
sponses were "deciding where the line is be-
tween how much your child needs you and how
much he/she needs to be independent" (2.6)
and "handling your child's friends" (2.5). Other
items which presented some difficulty for
mothers in this stage of parenting included
"discipline" (2.4) and "helping your child learn
to make some decisions for himself/herself"
(2.4). Mothers of school age children reported
feeling the most comfortable with their ability
in the areas of moral development (1.8) and
values training (1.8).
Mothers of adolescents gave the largest
percentage of responses on the less comfort-
able half of the response spectrum when com-
pared to other age groups. Several of the items
resulted in mean scores around 3.0 which did
not occur in any of the other groups of
mothers. Almost half of the mothers re-
sponded on the negative side of the response
spectrum in reference to "dealing with your
child's moodiness" (47%) and "discipline"
(40%). Additional items which brought a sub-
stantial percentage of responses (200% or
more) in the less than often comfortable cat-
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egories included: "adjusting to your child's
demands for independence" (3.1), "maintain-
ing adequate limits" (2.9), "handling financial
pressures" (2.9), "helping your child to leave
home" (2.9), "helping your child learn to make
decisions on his/her own" (2.6), and "helping
your child establish some direction in his/her
life" (2.6). A substantial percentage of mothers
(13%) felt that the item "helping your child
learn to handle sexual pressures" did not apply
to their situation. The most positive mean com-
petency scores for this group of mothers re-
lated to drug and alcohol pressures (1.7) and
dealing with demands for privacy (1.9).
Effects of Sex of Child
Responses to items within each parenting
stage were analyzed by sex of child using
analysis of variance. No significant differences
in responses were found between mothers of
males and mothers of females in the infancy,
toddler, preschool, and adolescent stages.
However, several significant differences for
sex of child emerged during the school-age
period of parenting. Mothers of males had
more difficulty than mothers of females in all
of the following areas: "deciding what limits
need to be set for your child", F (1, 45) = 5.20,
p < .03 (female X = 1.9, male X = 2.7); "help-
ing your child maintain the responsibilities of
school," F (1, 45) = 6.60, p < .01 (female
X = 1.7, male X = 2.2); "helping your child
learn reading, writing, and arithmetic," F (1,
45) = 7.08, p < .01 (female X = 1.6, male
X = 2.3); and "teaching your child the dif-
ference between right and wrong," F (1,
45) = 4.03, p < .05 (femaleX = 1.6, male
X = 2.0). It is interesting to note that three of
these four items presented little difficulty for
mothers of school age children in general.
None of these sex differences persisted into
the adolescent stage of parenting.
Interest in Parent Education Service
When questioned about their interest in
parent education services, 52% of mothers
who responded gave an affirmative answer.
When responses were analyzed by parenting
stage using chi-square, no significant dif-
ferences were obtained (X2 = 5.60, df = 4,
n.s.). While there was a tendency for more
mothers of infants (60%) and adolescents
(670%) to indicate interest, over 41 % of mothers
October1982
within each of the five stages expressed a
desire for parent education.
Discussion
While an abundance of research is available
on parenting, little attention has been given to
parents' assessment of their own competen-
cies with regard to the tasks of parenthood.
Parents' feelings about their ability to effec-
tively fulfill their parenting role affects their
role performance and, thus, influences their in-
teractions with their children. Chilman (1979)
found feelings of competence as a parent to be
significantly related to satisfaction with this
role. Overall, mothers in the present study
reported high levels of competence in their
roles as parents, yet the challenges of parent-
ing varied with each developmental stage.
The difficulties experienced by mothers of
infants and toddlers appeared to be related to
transitional tasks, such as weaning and toilet
training, which require a Cpecific change in
children's behavior. Very few of these mothers
expressed difficulty in performing the tasks
related to physical care. Several investigators
have discussed the adjustment involved in the
transition to parenthood (Hobbs & Cole, 1976;
Russell, 1974). Mothers of infants in the pres-
ent study, however, reported overall high levels
of comfortableness with their parenting tasks.
One explanation for the unexpectedly strong
feelings of competence expressed by these
mothers might be the fact that they attended a
pediatric clinic. In this setting, well baby
check-ups are a frequent occurrence and offer
many opportunitites for interaction between
the professional staff and new mothers.
For mothers of preschoolers, school age
children, and adolescents, the following tasks
appeared to pose particular problems in par-
enting: handling independence issues, dealing
with the child's emotional responses, and
disciplining the child. The older the child, the
more difficult these tasks tended to be per-
ceived. Mothers of older children tended to
rate themselves highest on tasks related to
conscience development and values training
(including items pertaining to sexual pres-
sures, drugs, and alcohol).
The data from this study indicate that the
lowest competency ratings were reported by
mothers of adolescents. This finding suggests
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a need for more parent education programs
which are targeted toward the later stages of
parenting. The vast majority of parenting pro-
grams in the United States are currently aimed
at expectant parents and parents of young
children. Adolescence has been referred to as
tumultous period of life (Campbell, 1969;
Thornburg, 1977). Today's young people are in
a developmental stage which their parents'
generation experienced very differently. As
Yarrow (1973) has indicated, parents often
discover that the circumstances of their own
upbringing are not applicable to the parenting
tasks they now face. Interestingly, mothers of
adolescents in the present study reported feel-
ing high levels of competency in areas most af-
fected by our modern society (i.e., sexuality,
drugs, and alcohol). The tasks that presented
the most difficulty for these mothers were
ones that have been issues for parents for
generations-how to deal effectively with the
adolescent's growing needs for independence
and how to cope with the volatile emotions and
moods often present during this period of
development. While the sample size for the
present group of mothers was relatively small,
these findings were consistent with those of
Bartz (1978) who used a significantly larger
number (n = 64) of parents.
At each stage of parenting, a substantial
percentage of mothers reported financial pres-
sures to be an area of difficulty. Certainly rais-
ing a child in today's economy is not easy, re-
gardless of the age of the child. It is inter-
esting, however, that mothers felt less com-
fortable with their adequacy in this area than
for many of the developmentally-oriented
tasks. Unfortunately, the topic of financial
stress is rarely addressed in parent education
programs.
Despite their high ratings of competency, a
large number of mothers in the study re-
quested parent education services. While iden-
tification of difficult areas for parents can
guide in the development and selection of con-
tent for parent education programs, it is impor-
tant to recognize that these programs serve
more than simply educational and remedial
functions. In addition to information sharing,
many competent parents seek parent educa-
tion services in order to receive support and
confirmation of their existing parenting skills.
493
 In this study, few differences were found in
mothers' views of their competency when
gender of the child was considered. In fact,
significant sex differences were only obtained
for mothers of school-age children. The few
tasks in this stage which elicited significantly
different responses consistently showed that
mothers of school-age children felt less com-
petent with male children than female children.
These differences in responses may be due to
mothers having different expectations of male
and female children at this age, or perhaps the
mothers were responding to actual behavior
differences between the sexes. The effect of
sex of child on parents' views of their child-
rearing ability needs furtherclarification and is
an area worthy of future investigation.
More research is also needed on the effects
of cultural variations and marital status on
perceptions of parental competency. Klein
(1973) pointed out that alternative family
systems including single parent families are
becoming more prevalent and deserve re-
search attention. Furthermore, variations in
education and income levels may affect com-
petency ratings of parents. This investigation
measured only the parenting perceptions of
mothers. As fathers take a more active role in
childrearing, measurement of their feelings of
competency will become increasingly impor-
tant.
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October1982