Demographic Characteristics, Coping Skills, and Parental Sense of Competence of Working and Nonworking Mothers

Abstract

Demographics of Pakistani working and non-working mothers, coping skills and parental sense of competence was examined in this cross-sectional study. Two hundred (100 non-working & 100 working) mothers aged 20 to 50 years responded to demographic information, Brief Cope Scale (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) and Parental Sense Of Competence Scale (Gibaud-Walston & Wandersman, 1978). Results indicated that working mothers from nuclear family system used more positive coping skills and middle age working mothers were found to have more parental sense of competence than their counterparts. Interestingly, analysis of interactive effect revealed that young working mothers living in nuclear family system had more parental sense of competence than their counterparts. This study highlighted the importance of examining mother’s demographics in their coping and sense of competence in parenting. Findings would assist social psychologists to guide suitable infrastructure to mothers in both roles to improve their coping with higher parental sense of competence.