PARENT AUTONOMY-ENHANCEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-EFFICACY

Perceptions of parents' autonomy-enhancing behaviors and their childre n's self-efficacy for problem-solving were explored with 386 college s tudents who were asked their perceptions of parental autonomy-enhancin g or controlling behaviors and administered the Problem-solving Self-e fficacy Scale. Subjects, describing their fathers to be autonomy-enhan cing rather than controlling, reported higher self-efficacy in problem -solving. No differences were observed among subjects with regard to s imilar perceptions of mothers. No interactions between mother and fath er were noted.