The Intergenerational Transmission Of Self-Efficacy In Poor Families:The Mediating Effects Of Social Support And Children’s Hope

Poverty is one of the most acute social problem in today’s world.Psychological research founds that poverty reduces cognitive function and influences behavior preferences,which can constitute a feedback loop that contributes to the perpetuation of poverty,and forming “the intergenerational transmission of poverty ”.The study of self-efficacy shows that sometimes self-referent thought mediates people’s behavior and affects the results of tasks,However,the current research on self-efficacy usually regards it as a mediating variable,and seldom studies the psychological mechanism between generations.Based on Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy,this study measured self-efficacy and other factors that may affect self-efficacy of adolescents aged 8 to 16 and their parents through questionnaires,and make some discussions about the mental health.Purpose:(1)To understand the characteristics and differences of self-efficacy level between poor and non-poor families.(2)To understand the relationship between parental self-efficacy and children’s self-efficacy and to explore whether there is intergenerational transmission.(3)To explore whether gender has an impact on self-efficacy of poor families.(4)Through the internal and external factors analysis,explore the psychological factors that affect the level of self-efficacy,and find a suitable measurement model for the hypotheses.Object and method: Using General self-efficacy scale,Adolescents’ social support scale and Children’s hope scale to measure 1000 students and their parents from third to eleventh grade at four place in Hunan province(Changsha,Chenzhou,Loudi,Hengyang).To explore the impact mechanism of the intergenerational transmission of self-efficacy in poor families through structural equation modeling.Results and conclusion:(1)The self-efficacy level of parents and children in poor families are significantly lower than that of parents and children in non-poor families.(2)The parents’ self-efficacy level can predict children’s self-efficacy level.(3)Parents’ self-efficacy affects children’s self-efficacy through social support and children’s hope,respectively.Thus,social support and children’s hope are parallel mediator factors.(4)Parents’ self-efficacy affects children’s hope through social support,and then affects children’s self-efficacy.Hence,social support and children’s hope are chain intermediary roles.