With,sample of 139 rural, single-parent African American families with a 6-
to 9-year-old child, we traced the links among family financial resource a
dequacy, maternal childrearing efficacy beliefs, developmental goals, paren
ting practices, and children's academic and psychosocial competence. A mult
imethod, multiinformant design was used to assess the constructs of interes
t. Consistent with the hypothesized paths, financial resource adequacy was
linked with mothers' sense of childrearing efficacy. Efficacy beliefs were
Linked with parenting practices indirectly through developmental goals. Com
petence-promoting parenting practices were indirectly linked with children'
s academic and psychosocial competence through their association with child
ren's self-regulation.