PARENTING EFFICACY, PERCEIVED CONTROL OVER CAREGIVING FAILURE. AND MOTHERS REACTIONS TO PRESCHOOL CHILDRENS MISBEHAVIOR

Eighty-five mothers of 4- and 5-year-old children completed selfreport measures of parenting efficacy, perceived control over failure in caregiving, and their likely affective. attributionaJ, and disciplinary reactions to Inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and oppositional-defiant misbehaviors. Parenting efficacy was unrelated to perceived control over failure in caregiving. Mothers with lower parenting efficacy reported a greater likelihood of using coercive discipline, while mothers with low perceived control over failure In caregiving were more likely to view children as able to control their own misbehavior. Inattentive misbehaviors elicited the least reported negative affect and the lowest reported likelihood of attributing control and Intent to the child and of using coercive discipline and reasoning. Hyperactive and oppositional misbehaviors, in that order, elicited reports of significantly greater negative affect and significantly greater likelihood of attributing control and intent and using both coercion and reasoning. Inattentive behavior was seen as most likely to occur, and oppositional behavior as least likely.