PARENTING SENSITIVITY, PARENTAL DEPRESSION AND CHILD HEALTH - THE MEDIATIONAL ROLE OF PARENTAL SELF-EFFICACY

This paper discusses the theoretical role of parental self-efficacy, o r parents' beliefs in their competence and effectiveness in the parent al role, as a mediator of relations between parent-child risk and pare ntal sensitivity. Evidence is marshalled from studies of parenting in the contexts of maternal depression and child health risk to support t he premise that parent-child characteristics affect parental sensitivi ty indirectly via their more direct impact on parental feelings of eff icacy, and that parenting efficacy represents the 'final common pathwa y' in the prediction of parenting sensitivity. Also considered in this working model are specific social-contextual factors as independent c ontributors to parenting efficacy and as possible moderators of relati ons between parent-child characteristics and self-efficacy. Implicatio ns for intervention are discussed. (C)1996 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.