The Role of Parenting Self-Efficacy in Parental Acceptance Among Parents of Children With Special Needs: A Cross-Sectional Study
Keywords:
children with special needs, parental acceptance, parenting self-efficacy, parentsAbstract
Parenting self-efficacy reflects parents’ confidence in managing parenting responsibilities and may be particularly important when caring for children with special needs, who often require sustained emotional, social, and caregiving support. Limited parental confidence may make adaptation to caregiving demands more difficult and may be associated with lower acceptance of the child’s condition. This study aimed to examine the role of parenting self-efficacy in parental acceptance among parents of children with special needs attending special schools in Banyuwangi, Indonesia. A quantitative cross-sectional correlational study was conducted from May to July 2025 among 188 parents selected through purposive sampling from a population of 200 parents. Eligible participants were parents of children with special needs attending special schools in Cluring District who were willing to participate and able to complete the questionnaire independently; parents who withdrew or returned incomplete questionnaires were excluded. Data were collected using the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale and the Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire, with questionnaires completed in the presence of the researcher. Descriptive statistics and Spearman’s rank-order correlation were used for analysis. Most participants had moderate parenting self-efficacy (93.6%), while most had high parental acceptance (78.7%). Parenting self-efficacy showed a positive and statistically significant, although weak, correlation with parental acceptance (r = 0.191, p = 0.009). This relationship may reflect that parents who feel more capable of managing caregiving demands are better positioned to respond adaptively to their child’s condition, while the weak correlation suggests that parental acceptance may also be related to other personal, family, and contextual factors. These findings indicate that strengthening parenting confidence through appropriately designed parenting education and psychosocial or community support may help support parental acceptance.
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