Sense of Parenting Competence

Comparative study between parents with children with and without Special Education Needs

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the feeling of parental competence between parents with children with SEN and parents with children without SEN. 418 parents participated, distributed in 3 groups: Parents with children with SEN who did not participate in the Parental Development Groups (PDG); Parents with children with SEN who participated in the PDG; Parents without children with SEN. For the data collection it was used the Parental Competence Sense Scale, based on the Parenting Sense of Competence scale (Gibaud-Wallston & Wandersman, 1978; Johnston & Mash, 1989). The results showed no significant differences between parental self-efficacy and the three groups of parents; fathers/mothers with children with SEN were the least satisfied with their parental competence; parental satisfaction is higher according to the level of parents' qualifications; the year of schooling of the children does not seem to interfere with the feeling of parental satisfaction; fathers exhibited higher parental satisfaction compared to mothers. These results suggest that the differences in the feeling of parental competence, particularly the satisfaction with parenting, seem to be related to the existence of children with SEN and with sociodemographic variables, such as parental qualifications.

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