MATERNAL RESOURCES, PARENTING PRACTICES, AND CHILD COMPETENCE IN RURAL, SINGLE-PARENT AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES

A family process model was tested that linked maternal education, mate rnal religiosity, and the adequacy of family financial resources to co gnitive and psychosocial competence in the mothers' children. The samp le included 156 6- to 9-year-old African American children living in s ingle-mother-headed households in rural areas, 82% of whom lived in po verty. The distal variables of maternal education, maternal religiosit y, and adequacy of financial resources were linked with the proximal v ariables of ''no nonsense'' parenting, mother-child relationship quali ty, and maternal involvement in the child's school activities. The pro ximal variables were, in turn, indirectly linked with children's cogni tive competence, social competence, and internalizing problems through their association with the children's development of self-regulation.