A Longitudinal Examination of Support, Self‐Esteem, and Mexican‐Origin Adolescent Mothers' Parenting Efficacy

• Published date: 01 June 2013
• Author: Amy B. Guimond,Laudan B. Jahromi,Adriana J. Umaña‐Taylor,Kimberly A. Updegraff
• Date: 01 June 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12019

ADRIANA J. UMA˜

NA-TAYLOR,AMY B. GUIMOND,KIMBERLY A. UPDEGRAFF,AND LAUDAN B.

JAHROMI Arizona State University

A Longitudinal Examination of Support,

Self-Esteem, and Mexican-Origin Adolescent

Mothers’ Parenting Eff‌icacy

Guided by a risk and resilience framework, this

study used a prospective longitudinal, multiple-

reporter design to examine how social support

from a mother f‌igure during pregnancy inter-

acted with Mexican-origin adolescent mothers’

self-esteem to inform their parenting eff‌icacy

when their children were 10 months old. Using

reports of perceived social support by adoles-

cent mothers (Mage =16.24, SD =0.99) and

their mother f‌igures (Mage =40.84, SD =7.04)

in 205 dyads, and controlling for demographic

factors (i.e., adolescent age, adolescent nativity,

family income, mothers’ educational attainment,

adolescent – mother coresidence) and adoles-

cents’ social support from a signif‌icant other,

the f‌indings indicated that social support dur-

ing pregnancy was positively associated with

adolescent mothers’ future parenting eff‌icacy

when adolescent mothers had relatively lower

self-esteem. The f‌indings were consistent for

adolescents’ and mothers’ reports and empha-

size the value of social support from a mother

f‌igure among adolescent mothers with lower

self-esteem. Implications for interventions are

presented.

T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics,

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 – 3701

(adriana.umana-taylor@asu.edu).

Key Words: adolescent mothers, Latino, Mexican origin,

parenting eff‌icacy, social support.

The term parenting eff‌icacy generally refers to

individuals’ beliefs about their competence as a

parent and, specif‌ically, their ability to positively

inf‌luence the behavior and development of their

children (Coleman & Karraker, 2000). It is par-

ticularly worthy of study because of its positive

association with mothers’ parenting competence

(see Jones & Prinz, 2005, for a review) and

with child adjustment (e.g., Scaramella, Sohr-

Preston, Callahan, & Mirabile, 2008). As such,

understanding factors that promote maternal eff‌i-

cacy has signif‌icant implications for prevention

work. Because children of adolescent mothers

are at disproportionate risk for maladjustment

(Black et al., 2002), it is important to iden-

tify factors that may promote parenting eff‌icacy

among adolescent mothers. In fact, scholars sug-

gest that parents who are unusually burdened

(e.g., adolescent mothers) need to build their per-

sonal competence to be effective parents in the

face of persistent stress (Coleman et al., 2002).

Because (a) Mexican-origin adolescent females

have the highest birth rate of all ethnic groups in

the United States (‘‘Births: Final Data,’’ 2007),

(b) Mexican-origin female adolescents are at

increased risk for poorer mental health than their

counterparts from other ethnic groups (Joiner,

Perez, Wagner, Berenson, & Marquina, 2001),

and (c) adolescent mothers and their children

are at high risk for maladjustment (Holcombe,

Peterson, & Manlove, 2009), a focus on the

parenting eff‌icacy of Mexican-origin adolescent

mothers is important. Thus, the current study

746 Journal of Marriage and Family 75 (June 2013): 746 –759

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12019