Education Commons^™

The Role Of Prenatal Empowerment In Predicting Parent And Infant Outcomes Among Working Women, Yao Yao

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The current study examined the relationship between women’s prenatal empowerment and children’s social-emotional competence. A longitudinal study was conducted in Nebraska that included (N = 38) working women and their infants. Mothers’ prenatal empowerment and infants’ social-emotional competence, parental stress, parent-child relationship, and mothers’ knowledge of infant development were measured. Results from the current study did not support a direct association between mothers’ prenatal empowerment and infants’ social-emotional competence. However, mothers’ prenatal empowerment and infant’s social-emotional competence were both significantly related to parental stress. These findings indicate that prenatal empowerment may have an indirect relationship with infants’ social-emotional development. …