A Study on the Effect of Parenting Self-efficacy of Parents with Children Aged 3-6 on Parent-child Relationship

Abstract

　A large number of studies have clarified that parenting self-efficacy is inextricably linked to parents,parent-child relationships and children’s well-being. The existing studies have mainly focused on the effects of parenting self-efficacy on parenting behaviors or how parenting behaviors affect parent-child relationships, less comprehensive studies have explored the effects of parenting self-efficacy on parent-child relationships in preschool-age children. To fill this gap, we investigated the effects of parenting self-efficacy on parent-child relationship based on ecosystem theory among 1435 parents of young children aged 3-6 years in mainland China. We used descriptive statistics, ANOVA tests, correlation analysis, and regression analysis to identify that parenting self-efficacy of parents with children aged 3-6 differed significantly by parental role, number of children owned, and educational background. Our results show that the showing affection dimension, promoting communication dimensions of parenting self-efficacy of parents with children aged 3-6 negatively predicted parent-child conflict, engaging play and establishing discipline positively predicted parent-child conflict. In contrast, showing affection, facilitating routines and promoting communication positively predicted parent-child closeness. Besides, parental education background and the number of children raised in the family negatively predicted parent-child conflict. We also found that Finally, how to enhance parenting self-efficacy from the perspective of family functioning, administrative policies, and social services was discussed.