Infant Crying Behaviour and Parental Self-Efficacy in Parents that Followed a Psycho-Educational Intervention
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2021-07-01
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en
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Abstract
Abstract
Background: Infant crying can negatively impact parents’ well-being and reduce parental self
efficacy. Having higher parental self-efficacy could stimulate feelings of control. As a result,
the crying may be interpreted as less of a problem. The association between infant crying and
parental self-efficacy as well as between self-efficacy and the degree to which the crying is
rated as problematic by mothers and partners was studied. Three different types of crying were
considered: crying, fussing and colic. The effectiveness of a psychoeducational intervention in
stimulating
parental
self-efficacy
was
tested.
Methods: 138 pregnant women and 96 partners were randomly assigned to the intervention
and control group. The intervention group received psycho-education about infant related
aspects. Six weeks postpartum all participants documented their infant’s behaviour for three
days and nights. Six and ten weeks postpartum all parents reported on parental self-efficacy and
possible
problems
they
experienced with the behaviours of their infant.
Results: No between-group differences were found on parental self-efficacy. For mothers, colic
and normal crying predicted the extent to which they reported having problems with the crying
behaviour. For fathers only colic predicted the extent to which they reported problems with the
crying behaviour. Parental self-efficacy moderated this relationship. When an infant had colic,
partners with higher parental self-efficacy reported to experience less problems with the infant’s
crying.
Conclusion: The current intervention did not have an impact on parental self-efficacy. The role
of parental self-efficacy differs between genders and different types of crying. More research
is needed to clarify the role of parental self-efficacy and how it can be improved.
Keywords: Infants, Crying, Parental Self-Efficacy, Intervention
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen