Latent profiles of parental self-efficacy and children's multisource-evaluated social competence

The interrelation between mothers' parental self-efficacy (PSE) and their school-aged children's well-being has been repeatedly proved. The lack of research in this area situates mainly on the absence of fathers, non-existent family-level studies, the paucity of independent evaluators, and the use of global PSE estimates.

We aimed to qualitatively identify different subgroups of mothers, fathers, and couples based on their PSE factors. Furthermore, we aimed to study the interrelations between these PSE subgroups and children's school-related social competence evaluated by the children themselves as well as by their peers, teachers, and parents.

Sample (n = 981; girls n = 467; boys n = 514) consisted of fourth-grade (mean age, 10 years old) children, their teachers, peers, and parents (mothers n = 876; fathers n = 696).

Latent profile analysis was used to identify parents with similar patterns of PSE. The data of mothers and fathers were modelled separately and as a family-level combination. Interrelations between PSE subgroups and children's multisource-evaluated social competence were analysed with group comparisons.

Separate subgroups of mothers, fathers, and couples were identified and labelled based on their PSE profiles. Subgroups were found to differ among mothers' age and education and children's academic skills. Most of the interrelations between PSE subgroups and children's social competence were statistically significant in a sense that children of parents with strong PSE were evaluated as more prosocial and less antisocial than others.

Despite new perspectives on parents' PSE estimates and use of behaviour evaluators outside the family system, the interrelation between positive PSE and children's social competence and learning remains strong.