Perception of future parenthood among university students in Thailand

Abstract

To determine how university students perceived themselves to be responsible in future parenting with mediating factors such as knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy in one international university, Bangkok. A cross-sectional survey with a self-administered questionnaire was applied in this study. 354 students were selected using the systematic random sampling method. The data were collected from 1st February to 28th February 2008. Simple descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test were used to analyze the data. The students had a moderate level of knowledge of parenthood (Mean=14.53, SD=3.67). Significant relationship were found between Sex of the students and perception of future parenthood (p=<.001), knowledge and perception of future parenthood (p=<.001), attitude and perception of future parenthood (p=<.001) and self-efficacy and perception of future parenthood. This survey result also shows that knowledge is not the only factor giving rise to perception of future good parenting; therefore further study could be useful to explore those factors in the interplay between knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy and perception of future parenthood, which can modify the students’ good perception of parenthood in the future.