The Relationship between Social Support and the Parenting Sense of Competence of Preschoolers’ Fathers: The Mediator Role of Psychological Capital

Abstract

Social support is an essential source of support for preschool children’s fathers to alleviate parenting anxiety, deal with parenting pressure, improve parenting methods, and enhance parenting sense of competence. Psychological capital serves as a critical psychological resource for preschoolers’ fathers, helping them cope with parenting stress and enhancing parenting efficacy. To explore the mediating mechanism of psychological capital between social support and the parenting sense of competence of preschoolers’ fathers, this study employs stratified sampling to survey 678 fathers from three cities of Henan province in China. The survey instruments mainly consist of the Social Support Rating Scale, Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and Parenting Sense of Competence Scale. Research findings show that social support, psychological capital, and fathers’ parenting sense of competence are at the middle level. Significant positive correlations exist among social support, psychological capital, and parenting sense of competence. Social support can positively predict fathers’ parenting sense of competence, while psychological capital partially mediates between social support and parenting sense of competence. Therefore, it is possible to increase social support for preschool children’s fathers and improve their psychological capital to relieve their parenting pressure, enhance their parenting participation, and strengthen their parenting sense of competence.

Keywords

fathers of preschoolers / parenting sense of competence / social support / psychological capital

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