Correlates and predictors of parenting self-efficacy in new fathers.

Parenting self-efficacy is a critical determinant of high-quality parenting behavior, but this aspect of parenting cognitions has been understudied for fathers. Longitudinal data from a sample of 182 fathers of firstborn infants in dual-earner families were used to assess how expectant fathers’ rearing history, personality and personal characteristics, and family relationships were associated with their initial levels of parenting self-efficacy in the early post-partum period. Expectant fathers completed surveys assessing their rearing history, personality, and personal characteristics during the third trimester of pregnancy and reported on their perceptions of coparenting and parenting self-efficacy at three months post-partum. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that new fathers were at risk for lower parenting self-efficacy when they had greater attachment anxiety and neuroticism, believed that mothers are inherently better caretakers, and planned to use their own fathers as models for childrearing. In contrast, new fathers had greater parenting self-efficacy when they perceived their coparenting relationships with children’s mothers more positively. These findings inform theory about the development of fathers’ parenting cognitions and behavior and practice with expectant and new fathers, and, if replicated in a larger, more representative sample, may be used to identify expectant fathers at risk for low parenting self-efficacy and in the design of policy initiatives to enhance father-child relationships.