Maternal self-efficacy and hostile-reactive parenting from infancy to toddlerhood

A longitudinal study of maternal self-efficacy (SE) and hostile-reactive parenting (HRP) was conducted with a community sample of 1836 mothers. Mothers completed questionnaires when their child was 4.5, 16.6 and 28.5 months of age. Maternal SE showed little change, whereas HRP sharply increased from 4.5 to 28.5 months. Structural equation models suggest these initially correlated variables did not influence each other over time, but rather became increasingly independent. Three distinct developmental trajectories were fitted for both maternal SE and HRP. In contrast to the overall portrait of stability, 12.6% of mothers followed a trajectory of declining SE. Likewise, 12.1% of mothers showed initially high and sharply increasing HRP. Few mothers (3.1%) simultaneously followed both of these trajectories, yet overall, SE and HRP trajectories were modestly associated (τb = −.23, p < .0001). Failure to support the expected reciprocal influences between SE and HRP over time, as well as maternal and child contributions to early manifestations of maternal HRP and their evolution are discussed.