Association between parenting efficacy and parent–child relationships for parents with one or two preschool children

Abstract

Aims

In this study, we used data drawn from one- and two-child families with children aged between three and six years in Shanghai, China. We (a) examined the status of parenting self-efficacy and parent–child relationships in Chinese families, (b) checked for heterogeneity in parenting self-efficacy and investigated how it relates to the number of children, and (c) explored the relationship between parenting self-efficacy and parent–child relationships to provide guidance for childcare services and nursing.

Method

This quantitative, cross-sectional study examined 378 one-child parents and 372 two-child parents in Shanghai, China, who were tested separately on their parenting self-efficacy and parent–child relationships using the Parenting Tasks Index–Toddler Scale and Parent–Child Relationship Scale in June 2021 (with a 94% response rate). We analyzed parenting self-efficacy via a latent profile analysis and classified it by type and distribution. Furthermore, we explored the differences between the one- and two-child parents in parenting self-efficacy, latent type score, and relevance to the parent–child relationship using an independent samples t-test, variance analysis, and logistic regression.

Results

Parenting self-efficacy was divided into three latent types: low, medium, and high (entropy ​= ​0.839/0.840, Lo–Mendell–Rubin adjusted likelihood ratio test ​= ​223.222/257.495). The higher the parents’ parent–child relationship score, the more likely they were to be classified as a medium or high self-efficacy type (odds ratio ​= ​46.924/37.721). One-child parents accounted for a higher proportion of high self-efficacy types than two-child parents (37.5% vs. 31.0%), and their parenting self-efficacy was significantly higher than that of two-child parents (4.53 ​> ​4.45, P ​< ​0.05).

Conclusion

Having a second child led to differences in parenting self-efficacy and the distribution of latent types with one-child parents. The lower self-efficacy among two-child parents should be addressed by promoting parenting self-efficacy through the parent–child relationship. Customized intervention strategies are recommended given the heterogeneity of the self-efficacy profiles.