Abstract
Background: The early years of a child’s life are crucial for their health and development. Healthy development means that children can develop all their abilities according to their ages with the fulfillment of their social, emotional, and educational needs. A mother has an extremely important role to play in boosting the child’s development. This study aimed to investigate the effect of psychosocial factors affecting maternal behavior toward healthy child development, using the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Information Motivation Behavior Skill model (IMB).
Subjects and Method: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Yogyakarta. A total sample of 400 mothers who had children under five was selected for this study. The independent variables included: (1) Constructs taken from SCT like self-efficacy, outcome expectation, and family support; (2) Constructs taken from IMB like information and behavioral skill. The dependent variable was maternal behavior for child development. All variables were measured by questionnaire. The data were analyzed by path analysis on Stata 13.
Results: Maternal behavior for child development was positively and directly affected by self-efficacy (b= 0.21; p <0.001), family support (b= 0.13; p= 0.014), information (b= 0.02; p= 0.033), and behavior skill (b= 0.03; p <0.001). Maternal behavior was positively and indirectly affected by outcome expectations and information. Goodness of fit of the path analysis (p= 0.234; RMSEA= 0.03; TFI= 0.99; TLI= 0.99).
Conclusion: Maternal behavior for child development is positively and directly affected by self-efficacy, family support, information, and behavioral skills. Maternal behavior is positively and indirectly by outcome expectations and information.
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