Cornsweet-Barber, CarrieMabbett-Sowerby, Sarsha2024-03-172024-03-172023https://hdl.handle.net/10289/16490The present cross-sectional study investigated the relationships amongst social support, parental self-efficacy and postpartum distress. Parents of children under two (N = 327) were recruited via social media and poster advertisements. They were asked to complete three questionnaires regarding social support (Family Support Scale; FSS), parental self-efficacy (Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale; KPCS) and emotional distress (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale; DASS).The participants from this study who had high levels of self-efficacy were found to be more likely to have high levels of social support; however, this correlation was not as strong as anticipated. Furthermore, the participants from this study who had high levels of selfefficacy were less likely to be experiencing distress symptoms; the strength of this correlation was moderate and similar to prior findings. To further explore the relationships among these constructs, a post-hoc exploratory factor analysis of the Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale (KPCS) was conducted; yielding two factors: parenting role confidence (PRC) and baby care confidence (BCC). These two factors of the KPCS were found to be correlated with depression, anxiety and stress; parenting role confidence had a stronger relationship with these variables. Additionally, it was found that a combination of parenting role confidence and baby care confidence had substantial power to predict depression, anxiety and stress; social support added a small but significant additional predictive value. These findings suggest that postpartum distress might be mitigated by providing interventions that would improve levels of social support and parenting self-efficacy.enAll items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.postpartum distressparental self-efficacysocial supportself-efficacyKaritane Parenting Confidence ScaleThesis2024-02-18