An exploration of maternal efficacy: The predictive power of childhood traumas, cognitive flexibility, and attachment

In this study, the relationship between mothers' self-efficacy levels and childhood traumas, attachment, and cognitive flexibility levels was investigated. 386 mothers with children aged 0-6 participated in the study. "Personal Information Form", "Childhood Trauma Questionnaire", "Parental Self-Efficacy Scale", "Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire-I" and "Cognitive Flexibility Scale" were applied to the participants. Pearson Correlation was applied to examine the relationship between mothers' self-efficacy levels and childhood traumas, attachment, and cognitive flexibility levels. Hierarchical regression analysis was applied to determine the predictors of self-efficacy levels. In addition, the self-efficacy levels of the participants were compared according to the variables of age, employment status, number of children, and number of people in the family. The descriptive findings of the data and the Independent Samples t-Test, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Tukey analysis of post-Hoc tests, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and Hierarchical Regression Analysis results are shown in tables. Based on the findings, mothers' self-efficacy scores were negatively and significantly related to childhood traumas and insecure attachment styles. In addition, mothers' self-efficacy scores were found to be positively and significantly related to cognitive flexibility. When the predictors of self-efficacy scores were examined, it was found that the most powerful predictor of mothers' self-efficacy scores was cognitive flexibility. High cognitive flexibility scores of mothers have a significant effect on higher self-efficacy scores.