Research in Nursing ond Health, 1985, 8, 19-29

Parents’ Beliefs about

Themselves as Parents of a New
Infant: Instrument Development
Karen F. Pridham and Audrey S. Chang

The instrument, What Being the Parent of a New Baby is Like (WPL), was designed to
assess parental experiences and self-images which are likely to influence problem-
solving concerning their infants. Forty-nine mothers responded to the questionnaire on
three separate occasions during the infants’ first 3 months. These data were the basis
for a preliminary examination of the item characteristics, reliability (internal consist-
ency), and validity. The pattern of responses to the WPL was in the expected direction
for a sample of mothers who, on the whole, functioned well as parents. Principal
components factor analysis with iteration and varimax orthogonal rotation identified
two variables (centrality of the infant and success in parenting) that together accounted
for 60.1 %of the variance; adequate internal consistency for success and modest internal
consistency for centrality were demonstrated. Use of the Neonatal Perception and Degree
of Bother Inventories demonstrated divergent validity. Expected parity differences tested
the known groups technique of construct validity. The significant relationship between
success and a measure of parents’ perceptions of their problem-solving skills demon-
strated concurrent validity. Further testing of WPL with added items on larger and more
heterogeneous samples i s warranted.

The problem-solving and interactive behaviors Benedek (1970) claimed that a mother’s ac-
of parents of new infants can be studied only with tions concerning the infant are based on her un-
knowledge of what being a parent means. The derstanding of responsible infant care. Hess (1981)
meaning of any experience is a function of one’s asserted that understanding of parental interac-
goals and intentions concerning that experience tion with an infant required knowledge of paren-
as well as beliefs about one’s own competencies tal beliefs or “theories” about the relationship.
and what is expected ‘of oneself in relation to McGillicuddy-DeLisi, Sigel, and Johnson (1979)
these goals (Fingarette, 1963). The meaning of differentiated beliefs from attitudes, values, and
parenthood includes the parent’s assessment of affective factors as bases for behavior. Belief
hidher relationship with the infant (Clarke- systems, or constructs, were viewed as more
Stewart & Apfel, 1978) as well as the differences complex and more closely tied to cognitive
the infant has made regarding things that are im- processes than attitudes and feelings.
portant to the parent. Beliefs or “theories” are likely to shape the

Dr. Karen F. Pridham-is a professor in the School of Nursing and the Deportment of Family
Medicine and Practice at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Audrey 5. Chang i s Project
Associate in the School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin at Madison.
This research was supported by DHHS Grant No. R01 NU-00606 from the Nursing Research
Branch, Division, of Nursing; the School of Nursing State Research Fund; and research funds from
the Department of Family Medicine and Proctice, University of Wisconsin-Modison.
The authors ore indebted to Dr. Marc F. Hansen for ongoing advice and support as well as for
critical review and suggestions concerning the development of the instrument and writing of this
poper; to Mary Bradley, M.S., Jackie Ventura, Ph.D., and Susan Hughway, M.S., for help with
data collection; for Mildred Frick for assistance with data tabuloting and Barbara Schutz for typing.
This article was received October 25, 1982, was revised, ond on November 17, 1983, was
accepted for publication.
Requests for reprints moy be addressed to Koren F. Pridhom, Ph.D., Professor, University of
Wisconsin-Modison, School of Nursing, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison. WI 53792.

0 1985 Wiley 0160-6891185/010019-11$04.00 19

20 RESEARCH IN NURSING AND HEALTH

content and perhaps process of problem-solving needs of the infant, and that expectations
behavior (Neisser, 1976). Lamb, Chase-Lans- for oneself as a parent arc being met (Lamb,
dale, and Owen (1979) claimed that a perceived Chase-Lansdale, & Owen, 1979).
effectance (a mother’s beliefs that her caretaking
is competent and effective, that their interactions Several issues involved in the meaning of par-
are enjoyed by the infant, and that they positively enting arc related to the concept of attachment
affect the infant’s development), is an important (Robson & Moss, 1970). Centrality of the baby
variable in relation to decision-making concern- to the parent is expressed by: (a) a sense of pos-
ing infant care. session, devotion, protectiveness, and concern for
Instruments for assessing the meaning of par- the infant’s well-being and (b) a sense of loss
enthood in terms that may be linked to problem- that is experienced with the infant’s actual or
solving of infant care issues are not available. imagined absence, Acceptance of impositions and
This paper presents preliminary tests of reliability obligations, feelings of warmth and love, and a
and validity of an instrument that examined par- positive anticipation of prolonged contact-may
ents’ beliefs about themselves and parental ex- be expressed as sources of satisfaction and dis-
periences that may influence problem-solving satisfaction.
concerning the infant. Specifically, this problem- Only a few instruments have addressed the
solving included decisions about what is going meaning of parenthood in terms of variables that
on (i.e., the name of the situation), what the de- are central to problem-solving behavior. Schaefer
sired outcomes are, whether or not the parent is and Manheimer’s (Note 1) Postpartiitit Resenrch
ready or willing to take a specific action, what Inventory was designed for administration to
action to take, whether or not the situation was mothers during the first 3 months after delivery.
accurately named, and whether the action taken This inventory includes 196 items that make up
was effective (Grier, 1981; Pridham, Hansen, & 23 scales for the assessment of experiences and
Conrad, 1979; Pridham & Hansen, 1980). feelings related to the mother herself and to the
Issues concerning the meaning of parenthood infant and its care. Freese and Thoman (1978)
that theoretically are important to problem- examined the reliability of the Postpartiirii Re-
solving tasks include: search liiventoty and found that only 11 scales
had acceptable scale homogeneity (alpha of at
1. The centrality of the infant in the parent’s least S O ) for both primiparae and multiparae.
life, including how much the infant is on None of the scales of the instrument, however,
the parent’s mind and the degree of diffi- assess parental beliefs in relation to the issues
culty experienced in leaving the infant in that are theoretically linked to problem-solving
the care of others. The extent to which the behavior.
infant is central may indicate the priority Cohler, Weiss, and Grunebaum (1970) devel-
attached to the infant and the investment in oped a 233-item Likert-type instrument, The Ma-
problem-solving concerning the infant teriial Artitiide Scale, to examine mothers’ feel-
(Kahneman, 1973). ings and attitudes concerning the issues of infant
2. The extent and character of changes expe- development to be negotiated between birthand
rienced by the parent since the infant’s birth. 3 years. Twenty-seven of the items deal with early
These changes indicate the impact of the infancy. Mothers’ feelings and attitudes concern-
parenting task and the problem-solving that ing the developmental issues pertaining to a new-
parenting a new infant requires (Newell & born baby are assessed in terms of the meshing
Simon, 1972). of mothering activities with the infant’s needs
3. The extent and sources of satisfactins as and the sensitivity of the mother’s behavior to
well as dissatisfactions experienced in par- the cues that the infant gives. Walker (Note 2)
enting the newborn. Expressed sources of used these items in a longitudinal study of mother-
satisfaction and dissatisfaction indicate is- infant dyads. However, the Cohler et al. instru-
sues that are very important for a parent, ment was not designed to examine beliefs con-
implying goals and central concerns that cerning parenthood.
provide content for problem-solving. The limitation of available instruments for the
4. The parent’s evaluation of the cognitive, comprehensive assessment of beliefs concerning
goal-directed, and task-oriented aspects of parenthood that may be central to a mother’s
being a parent, including the extent to which problem-solving behavior was the incentive for
a parent perceives that helshe knows the developing an instrument specific to this task.
infant, that caretaking is in tune with the The objectives of the present study were to de-
 PARENTS BELIEFS ABOUT SELVES / PRIDHAM AND CHANG 21

scribe the characteristics of the scaled items in- faction in being a parent, and (d) evaluation of
cluded in this questionnaire and to do a prelim- performance as a parent. Seven of the 14 items
inary examination of the reliability and validity were open-ended and 7 were scaled. The re-
of these items. sponses to the open-ended items, to be reported
in another paper, gave directions for future de-
velopment of the scaled items. For the scaled
METHOD items, a 9-point graphic rating scale’ was used
(Guilford, 1954; Polit & Hungler, 1983). Each
Sample
end of the scale, represented by a solid line with
The subjects were 49 mothers of infants aged 9 equidistant vertical markings, was labeled with
birth to 3 months who used family practice clin- a bipolar descriptor (e.g., not difficult, very dif-
ics either for obstetric and/or pediatric care. The ficult). The equal distance between the 9 points
mothers and healthy newborns, were at least 17 of the line implied an equal interval. As recom-
years old, were either married or had a stable mended by Guilford, all of the 7 scaled items
relationship with a partner, and resided within a were in the same direction, with the less intense
30-mile radius of a midwestern university cam- or negative response on the left side of the scale
pus; 19 mothers were multiparous and 30 were and the more intense or positive response denoted
primiparous. Multiparae were significantly older on the right. Categories for classifying responses
than primiparae [r(47) = 3.48, p < .OOl two- to open-ended questions were derived from the
tailed]. The two parity groupings differed signif- literature (Clark, 1966; Gruis, 1977; Hobbs, 1968;
icantly on gender of the baby [X2(l) = 5.86, LeMasters, 1970; Rapoport, Rapoport, Strelitz,
p < -[Link] multiparae, 16 of the 19 infants & Kew, 1977; Russel, 1974; Shereshefsky, Lie-
were male. There were no significant differences benberg, & Lockman, 1973) and from the data
between parity groupings in social status score, collected in pilot tests of the instrument. These
mother’s or father’s years of education, religious categories were applied to responses concerning
preference, location of home (rural or urban), changes in personal and family life and sources
whether or not the baby was planned, the ges- of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, as well as de-
tational age, and birth weight of the infants. sired changes for each parent and were labeled
Mothers, on the whole, were well educated (mean as follows: (a) resources, (b) workhesponsibil-
years of education = 14.88, SD = 2.5). The itiesltasks, (c) lifestyle, (d) relationships, (e) per-
social status scores, as measured by Hollings- ceptions of self/others, (f) personal development,
head’s (Note 3) Four Factor Index of Social Sta- (g) futurelplans, and (h) other.
tus, with obtainable minimum and maximum val- How parents problemsolve regarding the in-
ues of 8 and 66, respectively, ranged from 27 to fant. This instrument was used to test the con-
66. The mean social status score, 47.98 (SD = current validity of the [Link] items, using
14.0), is characteristic of workers in medium- 9-point graphic rating scales, were derived from
sized businesses, minor professional people, and a paradigm of problem-solving behavior (Prid-
technical workers. Almost one-third of the sam- ham & Hansen, 1980), and assessed a parent’s
ple, however, had scores that were typical either sense of problem-solving skill, in gened, as well
of skilled craftsmen and clerical workers or semi- as perception of skill specific to 6 phases phases
skilled workers and machine operators. of problem-solving (scanning, formulating, ap-
praising, planning, implementing solutions, and
lnsfrumenfs
evaluating). The alpha coefficients were high (.86)
for each of two administrations of the instrument
The instrument evaluated in the study, as well to the 49 mothers, at 30 and at 90 days after the
as the three instruments used to assess its con- infant’s birth. The scores of the 11 items were
struct validity, are each described in turn. summed to obtain a mean score of problem-
What being the parent of a new baby is solving behavior for each subject.
like. The instrument that was developed and Two studies contributed to the assessment of
examined in this study, What Being die Parent the convergent validity of this instrument. Skin-
of New Baby is like (WPL), was a 14-item ques- ner (Note 4) used the instrument with 30 mothers
tionnaire designed to measure four aspects of pa- of 8 to 10-week-old infants to investigate the re-
rental beliefs postulated as important in problem- lationship of maternal perceptions of problem-
solving about infant care. These aspects were: solving skill to maternal exercise of self-care
(a) centrality of the infant in the parent’s life, agency, measured with the Denyes (Note 5) tool,
(b) change experienced by the parent, (c) satis- Self-care Agency Assessitieiit Questionriaire.
22 RESEARCH IN NURSING AND HEALTH

Skinner reported that the aspect of self-care NPI 11. The DBI uses a 4-point scale to assess
agency, ego strength and health decision-making the degree to which mothers are bothered by their
of mothers, was significantly correlated with per- infant’s behavior in regard to the same six char-
ceived problem-solving skill in infant care in acteristics that are included in the Neotinlal Per-
general ( r = .44, p < .05) and with perceived ceptions Inventories. Furthermore, the DBI is de-
skill in formulating (r = .42, p C .05) and ap- signed so that a mother may add to the list of six
praising ( r = .44, p < .05) problems in infant behaviors other behaviors that bother her. For
care. The scale, ego strength and health decision this report, a score was obtained by summing the
making, estimated the extent to which mothers ratings (including the ratings of items that the
made good decisions about their own health, mother added to the list), and dividing by the
thought clearly and logically about their health, maximum score possible for the total number of
felt good about themselves, and felt proud about items rated (i.e., the number of items rated mul-
doing things well. tiplied by 4). Broussard and Hartner (1971) re-
Naze (Note 6) studied, for 30 mothers of tod- ported that the extent of bother reported by the
dlers aged 12 to 14 months, the relationship of mother on the DBI and a negative perception of
maternal perceptions of problem-solving skill and her infant were correlated.
the ability for engaging in self-care. We revised
the instrument, How Parerits Probleni-Solve Re- Procedure
garding the Itfant, to make it appropriate for
mothers of toddlers. Ability to engage in self- The instrument, Wiat Beitig the Pareiit of a
care was measured with the instrument developed New Baby is Like (WPL), was administered to
by Keamey and FIeischer (1979), Exercise of Self- each subject three times. Mothers were asked to
Care Agency Scale. The alpha coefficient for the complete the instrument within 5 to 7 days after
1 1 problem-solving items was 232. Naze showed the infant’s birth. Mothers completed WPL a sec-
that the relationship of the measure of self-care ond time, when their infants were between 29
agency and the measure of self-reported problem- and 42 days old, and a third time, when the in-
solving skill was significant ( r = .46, p < .01). fants were between 85 and 98 days old. For the
The neonatalperception inventories. The two first administration of WPL, the mean age of the
Neonatal Perception Inventories (NPI I, NPI 11) infants was 6.1 days (SD = 1.91), for the second
asked a mother to rate her own baby and the administration 35.2 days (SD = 4.94), and for
average baby using 6 items with 5-point rating the third administration 92.3 days (SD = 4.91).
scales (Broussard, 1979; Broussard & Hartner, At the same time as the second and third ad-
1970, 1971). NPI I is designed for administration ministrations of the WPL questionnaire, mothers
at I to 2 days postpartum, and NPI I1 for admin- also completed the instrument, How Parents
istration at 1 month of age. These scales assess Problem-Solve Regarding the Iifnnt. NPI I was
the amount of difficulty a mother thinks the aver- completed by the mothers when visited in the
age infant, as well as her own infant, has or will hospital on the second or third day after the in-
have with crying, feeding, spitting up, sleeping, fant’s birth (mean age of the infants = 2.6 days,
bowel movements, and establishing a pattern or SD = 1.4). NPI I1 and DBI were completed at
schedule for eating and sleeping. The higher the the same time that the WPL was administered the
rating for each item, the higher the perceived second time (between 29 and 42 days after de-
difficulty or trouble. If a mother’s total ratings livery). The sample was stable across the three
for her own infant are the same or less than the administrations with no attrition in subjects.
total of her ratings for the average infant, her The major objective of this study was the eval-
perception of her own infant’s behavior is con- uation of the instrument, What Being tlte Parent
sidered positive; otherwise, the mother’s percep- of New Baby is Like (WPL). Therefore, data anal-
tion is considered negative. Reports of internal ysis included: (a) description of item character-
consistency and construct valjdity of the Neo- istics and (b) tests of reliability and validity of
nntal Perceptiori Inventories are not available. the instrument. Reliability, in the form of internal
Broussard (1979) reported studies that estab- consistency of the scaled items was studied using
lished the predictive validity of the NPI 11. The Cronbach’s alpha (1951). Four techniques were
Neonatal Perception ttiventories have k e n widely used for examining construct validity of the in-
used in research investigations (Palisin, 1981). strument: (a) Factor analysis was applied to iden-
The degree of bother inventory. The Degree tify clusters of related items (Kim & Mueller,
of Bother Inventory (DBI) (Broussard & Hartner, 1978), and to provide for convergent and dis-
1971) is administered at the same time as criminant validation (Campbell & Fiske, 1959).
 PARENTS BELIEFS ABOUT SELVES I PRIDHAM A N D CHANG 23

(b) The technique of examining findings for known first factor, the alpha coefficients were .85 for
groups (Nunnally, 1978, p. 103) was used to as- the first administration, .70 for the second admin-
sess construct validity by studying the differences istration, and .77 for the third. The internal con-
that are expected between parity groups on the sistency for the second factor was less than -70
basis of a concept of identity (Erikson, 1963) and for each of the three administrations and de-
research concerning transition to parenthood creased across time (see Table 3).
(Hoffman, 1978). (c) The theoretical framework The variable, Success in Care formed the first
of the instrument and its expected relationship to factor and included items 14, 15, 16, and 17.
parents’ concurrent problem-solving about infant These items were concerned with the mother’s
care was examined through correlational analysis beliefs about success in relating to, and caring
(Nunnally, 1978). (d) The correlations between for her infant. The second factor, included items
WPL scores and the measures obtained with the 11, 12, and 13, formed the second variable, Cen-
NPI I, NPI 11, and the DBI were a test of validity trality of the Infant. These items concerned the
that applies Campbell’s & Fiske’s (1959) multi- extent to which the infant was on the parent’s
trait-multimethod. The Neonatal Perception In- mind, the extent to which life had changed for
ventories and the DBI are theoretically hetero- the parent and her family, and the extent of dif-
traits and unrelated to the concepts measured with ficulty in leaving the infant in someone else’s
the WPL, since they measure perceptions of the care. The mean score of the composite items for
infant rather than of the parent. each variable was computed to obtain a score for
each subject. Each of the two variables was more
highly correlated with itself between administra-
RESULTS tions than with the other variable, demonstrating
an expected property of an attribute. The intra-
Item Characferisfics of fhe WPL
correlations of each variable with itself across
The means and standard deviations for each of administrations and the intercorrelations of the
the seven scaled items are shown in Table I . For two variables are shown in Table 4.
the group of subjects tested, scores tend to cluster
at the higher end of the scale and increasingly so
across administrations for scaled items 14,15, 16, The Construct Validity of the WPL
and 17. Table 1 shows that the means for all items
except I3 (difficulty in leaving baby) are consid- The identification of two factors, each con-
erably greater than the mid-value of 4.0. In gen- sisting of a logically coherent set of items, sup-
eral, scores for items 11, 12, and I3 are less re- ported the construct validity of the WPL. The
stricted in range than scores for the other items construct validity of the instrument was further
for all three administrations. By the third admin- examined by the application of three procedures
istration, most mothers reported being very much to the factors, Centrality and Success. Parity
in tune with their babies (15) and knowing their groupings (a group of primiparae and a group of
babies very well (16). multiparae) were used to examine construct va-
lidity in terms of known groups. It was expected
that the baby’s centrality and the extent of change
Reliability of the WPL would be greater for primiparae than for multi-
parae, since primiparae are likely to have a greater
The reliability (alpha) coefficients for all seven identity change to make in the transition to par-
scaled items of the WPL instrument were -57, enthood. Furthermore, it was expected that pri-
-61, and -33 and for the three administrations, miparous mothers would demonstrate an increase
respectively. The low alpha coefficients indicated in scores for evaluation of parenting over the
that the instrument consisted of discriminating 3-month study period. In contrast, it was ex-
items. The principal cornponents factor analysis pected that scores for multiparous mothers, who
with iteration and varimax orthogonal rotation were likely to have a concept of their identity
(Nie, Hull, Jenkins, Steinbrenner, & Bent, 1979) and capacities as parents formed and tested by
was applied to the 147 data points of all three of previous experience and, therefore, less subject
the administrations to 49 subjects. Factor load- to the fluctuations of immediate experience, would
ings for the two factors that were extracted, each tend to remain stable. The means and standard
of which have eigenvalues greater than 1, are deviations for parity groupings for each of the
shown in Table 2. Together, the two factors ac- variables measured by the WPL are shown in
counted for 60.1% of the total variance. For the Table 5 .
 w
P

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics for Seven Items of Perceptions of Being the Parent of a New Baby for Each of Three
Administrations to 49 Mothers of Infants

, Administration 1 Ad ministration 2 Administration 3

Item (infant age = 7 days) (infant age = 30 days) (infant age = 90 days) W
rn
v,
rn
11-Baby is an parent's mind M ' 6.3 1 6.02 5.67 gn
SD 1.46 1.32 1.52 I
12-Changes for parentlfamily M 5.70 5.98 5.72
SD 2.34 1.68 1.98
13-Difficulty in leaving baby M 4.73 4.02 3.20
SD 2.43 2.25 2.36
14-Satisfaction in being a parent M 7.04 6.71 7.09
SD 1.22 1.20 1.01
15-Sense of being in tune with baby M 6.05 6.45 6.67
SD 1.27 1.15 0.83
16-Parent's knowledge of baby M 4.79 6.4 1 6.85
SD 2.14 0.92 0.84
17-Parent's meeting of self-expectations M 6.02 6.23 6.54
SD 1.50 1.34 1.17
Note. Interval scale is 0 10 8: 0 = very little, not at all; 8 = a great deallcompletely.
 PARENTS BELIEFS ABOUT SELVES I PRIDHAM AND CHANG 25

Table 2. Factor Loadings and Eigenvalues Using Principal Factor Analysis

and Verimax Orthogonal Rotation for Two Factors of the Scales of the
Questionnaire, “What Being the Parent of a New Baby Is Like”

Item Factor 1 Factor 2

11-Baby i s on parent’s mind .11091

12-Changes for parent/family - - 1 3693 -56161
13-Difficulty in leaving baby - .07837
14-Satisfaction i n being a parent - .01019
15-Sense of being in tune with baby .73933 .01126
16-Parent‘s knowledge of baby .64877 - .15062
17-Parent’s meeting of setf expectations - .02896
Eigenvalue 2.56 1.64
Percent of the total voriance explained 36.6 23.5
Cumulative percent 36.6 60.1
Note. N = 49.

Table 3. Alpha Coefficients for Scales of the Questionnaire, “What Being the Parent of a
New Baby Is Like“

Administration 1 Administration 2 Administration 3

Infant age = 7 days Infant age = 30 days Infant age = 90 days
Categories (N = 38) (N = 44) (N = 45)

1. Success .85 .70 .77

2. Centrality .68 .59 .42
Note. All alpha coefficients were standardized.

Table 4. Intra- and Intercorrelationsfor the Factors, Centrality and Success,

for Three Administrations

Centrality Success
1 2 3 1 2 3

Centrality 1 -
2 .64**
N = 41
3 .59** .70**
N=42 N = 43
Success 1 -.13 -
.03 - .07
N = 43 N=43 N=43
2 .31 .28 22 .23
N = 42 N=45 N=43 N=43
3 .06 -
.04 -.12 .34* .48* -
N = 41 N=43 N=46 N=43 N=43
*p < .05.
**p < .01.
26 RESEARCH IN NURSING AND HEALTH

Table 5. Means for Mothers an Centrality of the of the instrument with parity was demonstrated
Infant and Success in Care [F(2,78) = 3.70, p C .01]. Table 5 indicates
that both parity groupings had relatively high mean
Multipara Primipora scores for Success when the baby was 7 days old.
(N = 19) (N = 30) However, for primiparae, the mean score in-
Variables M SD M SD creased sharply between 7 and 30 days, and then
increased slightly between 30 and 90 days, in
Cent raI ity contrast to the mean scores of multiparae which
Administration 1 4.36 (1.43) 6.28 (1.18) remained more nearly constant.
Administration 2 4.73 (1.36) 5.77 (1.03) If the assumption that a mother’s problem-
Administration 3 4.32 (1.29) 5.17 (1.08)
Success
solving skills and actions concerning care of her
Administrotion 1 6.21 (1.09) 5.79 (1.34) infant are related to the meaning of being a par-
Administration 2 6.03 (1.38) 6.64 (0.74) ent, then a mothers’ sense of satisfaction and suc-
Administration 3 6.80 (0.76) 6.87 (0.70) cess as a parent should be positively related to
self-reported, problem-solving skill. That is, the
Note. The infant’s age at administration 1 was about 7
days; at administration 2, about 30 doys; and ot admin-
greater a mother’s sense of success as a parent,
istraiion 3, about 90 days. the higher her appraisal of her problem-solving
skill should be. This hypothesis was supported
by the results of correlational analysis. The Pear-
son product moment correlation coefficient be-
Results of the analysis of variance for each of tween problem-solving and maternal beliefs about
the two measures of mothers’ perceptions of being Success was 0.44 ( p < .05)when the infant was
a parent are shown in Table 6. For centrality, a 1 month of age, and at approximately 3 months
significant main effect for parity groups was of age the correlation coefficient was 0.49
demonstrated, with mean scores in the predicted ( p < .05) (see Table 7). Contrary to the predic-
direction [F(1,37) = 14.79, p < .OOl]. Further- tion, however, the problem-solving score is not
more, the effect of time was significant significantly associated with the second factor,
[1;(2,74) = 5.63, p < .Ol] as well as the inter- Centrality.
action of time with parity [F(2,74) = 4.67, p C The scores on NPI I, NPI 11, and DBI,all of
.05]. For multiparae, the mean scores for cen- which measure mothers’ perceptions of infant be-
trality, shown in Table 5 , remain almost constant havior, were used to test the discriminant validity
for each of the three administrations, whereas for of the WPL, which measures mothers’ percep-
primiparae, mean scores decrease consistently tions of themselves as parents. The NPI I, I

across administrations. However, the most size- NPI 11, DBI, and WPL all use the same method
able increase was between 7 and 30 days (first (maternal self-report) to measure different phe-
and second administrations). For mothers’ beliefs nomena, a condition for tests of discriminant va-
about parenting Success, overall mean scores in- lidity (Campbell & Fiske, 1959). The hypotheses
creased with each of the three administrations tested with the NPI I, NPI 11, and DBI was that
[F(2,78) = 9.80, p < .001]. In addition, the a mother’s beliefs about her parenthood would
expected interaction of time of administration not be significantly related to her perceptions of

Table 6. Analysis of Variance for each Parenting Measure, Centrality of the

Infant and Success in Care

Centrality Success
Source df MS F df MS F
Parity Groups [P) 1 45.893 14.79*** 1 0.213 0.12
Error 37 3.102 39 1.755
Time (T) 2 3.689 5.63** 2 6.903 9.80***
T X P 2 3.061 4.67* 2 2.605 3.70**
Error 74 0.655 78 0.704
Note. N = 49.
*p C .05
**p < .01
***p < .001
 PARENTS BELIEFS ABOUT SELVES / PRIDHAM AND CHANG 27

Table 7. Pearson Correlation Coefficients between Measures of the Instrument,

'What Being the Parent of o New Baby Is Like," Centrality and Success, and Measures
of Problem-Solving, the Neonatal Perception Inventories (NPI) and the Degree
of Bother Inventory (DBI)

Between Measures Administration 1 Administration 2 Administration 3

Centrality-Problem Solving .04 - .04

Success-Problem Solving .44* - .49**
Centrolity-NPI .15" - .06b
Success-NPI .07" .12b
Centrality-DBI .24
Success-DBI - .07
Note. N = 49.
"Scores for NPI I ore used.
%cores for NPI II are used.
*p c .01.
**p < .OOl.

how much trouble her infant has regarding the DISCUSSION

six behaviors or to her perceptions of how much
The evaluation of the instrument, WPL, that
she is bothered by these infant behaviors. Pear-
is reported here was preliminary and exploratory.
son product moment correlation coefficients for
Although mean scores on each of the seven scaled
the two measures of beliefs about parenthood
items of the WPL were relatively high for each
(centrality and success) with the NPI I, NPI 11,
of the three administrations, the pattern of re-
and DBI were small and nonsignificant (Table
sponses demonstrated the expected effect for time.
7), indicating that the WPL probably assesses
That is, as mothers accrued experience and be-
different concepts than are assessed by either the
came better acquainted with their infants, mean
NPI I and I1 or the DBI.
scores increased. The mothers who participated
in the study were, on the whole, viewed by their
Effects of Time and Demographic Variables
family doctors and nurses as capable parents, and
Effects of time for the group of mothers as a were not reported as risks for problems in par-
whole, examined by analysis of variance with enting or in their relationships with their infants.
repeated measures, are significant for both Cen- Two factors were extracted from the seven scaled
trality and Success (p < .001). These results are items and provided the measures used for tests
shown in Table 6. Mothers indicated decreasing of reliability (internal consistency) and validity.
centrality of the infant and, with increasing ex- Modest evidence of internal consistency and
perience, greater success. validity was demonstrated through this prelimi-
Mother's age and education and the family's nary application of the instrument (WPL)to the
socioeconomic status are not significantly corre- sample of 49 subjects. The alpha coefficients for
lated with either of the two variables, Centrality the factor, success, varied from .70 to .85 across
and Success. Furthermore, results of analysis of the three administrations. The low internal con-
variance show that, for both centrality and suc- sistency for the second factor, centrality, may be
cess, gender of the infant does not have a sig- due to its small number of items, or, altema-
nificant effect; F ratios for the effect of gender tively, each of the items that it includes may dif-
on Centrality and Success, respectively, are: fer from the other items in its conceptual basis.
[F(1,31) = 1.48, p = N.S.] and [F(1,31) = Some mothers noted that they would have little
0.16, p = .69]. The iyfant's gender does not or no difficulty in leaving the infant with the father
interact significantly with parity for either Cen- or other family member, but would have more
trality [F(1,31) = 2.78, p = . I l l , or Success difficulty in leaving the baby with someone else.
[F(1,31) = 0.05, p = 0.821. The nonsignifi- Perhaps the internal consistency for Centrality was
c a k e of the effect of infant gender suggests that low as a consequence of variation among mothers
the estimation of the means of Success and Cen- in the availability of someone with whom they
trality for both parity groupings is not affected were comfortable in leaving their infant.
by the significant differences of gender distribu- The demonstration of a positive and significant
tions between the two samples. relationship between mothers' self-reported,
28 RESEARCH IN NURSING AND HEALTH

problem-solving skills and evaluation of parent- tus. Unpublished manuscript, 1975 (available
ing satisfaction and success supported the con- from author a t Yale University, New Haven, CT).
struct validity of success. Lack of association of 4. Skinner, J. Self-care agency and problem-solving
the variable, centrality, with the mean score for skills of mother regarding heolth care problems of
their well babies. Unpublished master’s thesis,
problem-solving of infant care issues may be ex- University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1982.
plained by the fact that the instrument, how par- 5. Denyes, M. J. Development of an instrument to
ents problem-solve regarding the infant is de- measure self-care agency in adolescents. (Doctoral
signed to assess skill in problem-solving, rather dissertation). Unpublished manuscript, Univer-
than either the extent or the character of the prob- sity of Michigan, 1980.
lems encountered. Centrality is more likely to be 6. Naze, C. Relationship of maternal self-care agency,
associated with the extent and character of emo- knowledge, problem-solving skills, and help-seek-
tional reactions to being a new parent than with inglusing behaviors of mothers at a rural medical
cognitive processes and skill in solving prob- clinic to the development of the concept of porent
lems. agency. Unpublished masters thesis, University
of Wisconsin-Madison, 1983.
The tests of internal consistency and construct
validity indicate that further tests of the revised
instrument with a larger, more heterogeneous R€F€R€NC€S
sample are warranted. Plans are being made to
use the questionnaire, revised with additional Benedek, T. Motherhood and nurturing. In E. J. An-
items, in a study that examines developmental thony & T. Bencdek (Eds.), Parenthood: Its psy-
chology andpsychopothology. Boston: little, Brown,
and health outcomes in the infant’s first 6 months
1970.
that may be linked theoretically to parents’ be- Broussard, E. R. Assessment of the adaptive poten-
liefs about themselves and their experiences as tial of the mother-infant system: The Neonatal
parents. These outcomes include features of Perception Inventories. Seminars in Perinatobgy,
mother-infant interaction during feeding, and 1979 3(1), 91-100.
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skill. first born. In J. Hellmuth (Ed.), The exceptional in-
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