Self-Efficacy Among Unmarried Black Mothers and Fathers of Young Children: A Pilot Study

This pilot study investigated whether participation in a psychoeducation intervention focused on co-parenting and fathers’ involvement would be associated with improvements in self-efficacy beliefs in a sample of economically disadvantaged single black mothers and the nonresident fathers of their focal 3-year-old children. Of 19 couples who participated in the study, 9 were assigned randomly to a 12-session group intervention focused on mastery experiences, social modeling, and stress reduction (experimental condition) and 10 were assigned to a one-session informational group (control condition) about the importance of biological fathers’ involvement with their young children. Between–within subjects analyses of variance showed an improvement in perceived self-efficacy for mothers in the experimental group, but not for fathers whose feelings of efficacy decreased regardless of group assignment. The implications of these findings for future evidence-based interventions and research with larger samples are discussed.