Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Parental self-efficacy (PSE), caregivers’ belief in their ability to parent successfully, serves as a protective factor for child development in high-risk situations. Children experiencing homelessness fall at the extreme end of a continuum of poverty-related risks, and are at a higher risk for maladjustment (i.e. behavioral problems) than their poor but non-homeless peers. Subsequently, experiences of family homelessness may undermine PSE. Nonetheless, some parents exhibit high PSE despite experiencing homelessness. We adopted a person-centered approach and explored how residential mobility related to family profiles of PSE and child adjustment. Data were collected from 34 parents with at least one child between ages three to five. PSE and child adjustment were assessed with the Child Adjustment and Parent Efficacy Scale. Based on PSE and child adjustment scores, we divided families into three groups: (1) poor child adjustment and low PSE, (2) good child adjustment and high PSE, and (3) poor child adjustment and high PSE. Residential mobility was measured with a single, self-report question that asked parents the number of places they had lived at since their child’s birth. Parent-child dyads with different profiles of PSE and child adjustment varied along the dimension of residential mobility. Residential mobility is highest among families involving child behavioral problems and low PSE. Our findings suggest residential mobility helps explain individual differences for parents with high PSE and those with low PSE, and children with behavioral problems. Longitudinal research should be conducted to further clarify the association between residential mobility and PSE/child behavioral problems.