Caregiver Social Support and Child Toilet Training in Rural Odisha, India: What Types of Support Facilitate Training and How?

Abstract:
Studies show positive impacts of social support onchildcare practices, but there is limited research onchild toilet training. Social support with toilet trainingmay be especially important for rural Indian caregiversas this is a new childcare practice for many andmothers face an already demanding workload. The aimof this study was to examine the role of social supportin toilet training using mediation and conditional pro-cess analyses. We surveyed 570 caregivers of children5 years old living in rural Odisha, India. We foundcertain types of support aid toilet training throughthree mechanisms: directly, by improving self-efficacy,and by buffering against stress. Informational andinstrumental support had a positive direct effect ontoilet training while emotional support had no effect.Instrumental support also aided toilet training indi-rectly through bolstering a caregiver's perceived self-efficacy. These effects of instrumental support were notmoderated by the caregiver's support network size.Additionally, we found perceived stress had a negativeindirect effect on caregivers' toilet training effortsthrough diminishing self-efficacy, but this effect wasbuffered (i.e. moderated) by social support. Thesefindings offer useful programmatic insights and expand the evidence-base on how social support functions toanother childcare practice and cultural context.

Bibliographic information

Sclar, G., Mosler, H.-J. (2021). Caregiver Social Support and Child Toilet Training in Rural Odisha, India: What Types of Support Facilitate Training and How?. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being

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