Parental competencies

Today, we’re looking at three studies of parenting. First, the bad news. Lorence, Hidalgo, Grasmeijer & Jiménez (2025) published “Parental Competencies for Positive Parenting and Their Measurement: A systematic review” in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. Here are the edited abstract and impact statement:

In the absence of a consensual framework on the competencies required for positive parenting, a systematic review was carried out with two objectives: (a) to analyze the strategies and tools most commonly used in the assessment of PC and (b) to identify the dimensions used in the assessment of this construct. The databases selected were APA PsycInfo and Medline. This study involved the initial review of a total of 10,030 studies published in journals with periodical publications in English, Spanish, or Dutch (without restrictions on the date of publication). Finally, a total of 151 studies were considered for data extraction. A wide variety of instruments (n = 214) were identified to assess PC, including self-administered scales and surveys, interviews, and observational tools. A content analysis of the subscales included in these instruments allowed us to identify domains at the interpersonal, family-system, and personal levels. This systematic review shows that there are no instruments that assess all parenting domains jointly, demonstrating the scarcity of a theoretical conceptualization of the PC construct. In conclusion, this review highlights the need for multidimensional and comprehensive PC instruments and a theoretical model of PC from a plural, multidimensional, contextual, dynamic, and positive perspective of parenting. 

This article evidences the need for the development of multidimensional and comprehensive parental competencies instruments. It provides a detailed description of the assessment tools for parental competencies most used in research. This review is useful for those who are looking to assess parental competencies for practical or research purposes. 

I wanted to start with this one because it illustrates the need for better measures. Next we look at generational transmission. Girod, Leerkes, Buehler, Shriver & Wideman (2025) published “Intergenerational Transmission of Emotionally Responsive Parenting via Parenting-Related Emotion and Cognition” in Journal of Family Psychology. The edited abstract follows:

Childhood experiences shape later parenting behaviors; however, few studies have examined the mechanisms that explain how parenting is transmitted across generations. The present study examined direct and indirect effects of mothers’ remembered emotionally responsive parenting in childhood on maternal sensitivity to infant distress via parenting-related emotion, physiology, and cognition. Participants included 299 mothers (Mage = 29.71, SD = 5.48; 47.5% non-Hispanic White) and their infants (48.8% female). Mothers self-reported their emotionally responsive parenting in childhood, and measures of emotional, physiological, and cognitive responses to video clips of crying infants were assessed prenatally. Maternal sensitivity was observed during distress-eliciting tasks when infants were 2 and 6 months old. Covariates included maternal age, education, race, and concurrent observed infant distress. Results from the structural equation model demonstrated women’s emotionally responsive parenting in childhood was significantly associated with lower negative emotion in response to infant crying but not with physiological arousal, regulation, or negative cognition about infant crying. Lower negative emotion in response to infant crying was significantly associated with lower negative cognition about infant crying, which was then significantly associated with higher maternal sensitivity to distress. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant serial indirect effect of mothers’ emotionally responsive parenting in childhood on maternal sensitivity to distress via negative emotions and negative cognitions about infant crying. The findings suggest that screening pregnant women based on recalled parenting in childhood and targeting how they emotionally and cognitively respond to infant cry cues may be an effective approach to promote positive parenting during early infancy.

This nicely illustrates that, when moms remember emotionally responsive parenting, they are less negative in response to crying. These moms then have less negative cognitions about crying and are more sensitive to infant distress. Finally, Aaron & Kiel (2024) published “The Pathway to Maternal Protective Parenting Behavior: Maternal physiology, child temperament, and maternal beliefs” in Journal of Family Psychology. Here’s the edited abstract:

Protective parenting, when enacted in contexts that do not require it, predicts child anxiety. Both child (e.g., temperament) and maternal (e.g., physiology and cognition) factors relate to parenting behavior, supporting family systems theory. In order to better understand the development of environmental risk for child anxiety, the present study applied the integrated social information and emotion processing theory to protective parenting, assessing concurrent relations among child temperament, maternal physiology, maternal cognitions, and protective parenting in toddlerhood. The present study also investigated whether the theory could be applied to longitudinal relations, testing cognition as a mechanism by which maternal physiology and child temperament predict maternal protective parenting over time. Study participants included 189 mothers (89.9% White, 2.1% Hispanic, 32.3% with annual household income ≤ $40,000) and children (55.6% male, 81.0% White, 3.7% Hispanic). Results indicated that the theory was partially applicable to both concurrent and prospective mother–child relations implicated in child anxiety development. Namely, child inhibited temperament (IT) related concurrently to maternal beliefs about the harm of child anxiety at child age 1 year, and to maternal protective parenting at child ages 2 and 3 years. Maternal baseline respiratory sinus arrythmia related to protective parenting at child age 3 years. Longitudinally, maternal beliefs at child age 1 year predicted maternal perceptions of child IT at child age 2 years. Maternal beliefs at child age 2 years predicted maternal protective parenting at child age 3 years. Although the mechanistic role of cognition was not supported, child emotion processes and maternal cognitions may uniquely contribute to maternal protective parenting. 

Here, we see that the child’s inhibited temperament is related to mom’s belief about the harm of child anxiety, which, in turn, predicts maternal protective parenting. Finally, we look at parenting in the context of the neighborhood. Buthman, Janisse, Lawler, Jefferson & Glownia (2024) published “Neighborhood Assets, Parenting, and Child Disruptive Behavior in Low-Income Black Families” in Journal of Family Psychology. The edited abstract follows:

Neighborhood assets, such as access to recreational facilities, density of residence, and safety, were examined in relation to parenting and disruptive behavior in early childhood. Examining data from a low-income Black preschool sample, this study investigated how self-reported neighborhood assets and observed parenting behaviors interactively predict observed disruptive behavior in children. Findings revealed a significant relationship between parenting and child behavior, where parenting with high sensitivity and engagement and parenting with less verbal and physical interference and intrusiveness predicted fewer child disruptive behaviors. There was also a significant interaction between neighborhood assets and parenting behaviors on child disruptive behavior, in which nonoptimal parenting behaviors predicted child disruptive behaviors to a greater degree in neighborhoods with fewer assets. On the other hand, optimal parenting was protective of child outcomes under conditions of fewer assets, above and beyond parenting in neighborhoods with greater assets. Few studies have examined this complex relationship between the neighborhood, parenting, and child disruptive behavior with the use of self-report and observational measures utilized in this study. Furthermore, few studies have examined this relationship within such a high-risk preschool sample. Given these findings, there is a need to improve neighborhoods to better support families. Additionally, clinicians may need to be more attentive to the effects of parenting and neighborhood assets on disruptive behavior in early childhood. 

I liked this one because it highlights the interaction between neighborhood assets and parenting, highlighting both the protective role of positive parenting in the absence of strong neighborhood assets and the exacerbating of disruptive behavior when children experience both nonoptimal parenting and fewer neighborhood assets. Taken together, these articles illustrate the need to better operationalize parenting and to examine parenting in the context of both parents’ childhood experiences and neighborhood assets.