Associations among child perceptions of parenting support, maternal parenting efficacy and maternal depressive symptoms

Background: Children and parents often rely on the support provided by non-parental adults such as extended family members. Expanding conceptualizations of social support beyond traditional nuclear family paradigms to include non-parental adults may be particularly relevant to identifying family strengths among economically disadvantaged and Latino families. Objective In the present study, we examine the extent to which child reports of parenting support provided by non-parental adults are linked to variations in mother-reported parenting efficacy and depressive symptoms, and whether these associations vary according to maternal marital status and Latino/Hispanic race/ethnicity. Methods: The present study considers how child-reported social support specific to parenting is associated with maternal self-reported wellbeing among a community sample of 59 mothers and their 10–12 year-old children. Results: Findings indicate that controlling for maternal perceptions of global social emotional support, parenting support is inversely related to parenting efficacy among single mother and Latino/Hispanic families. Further, Latino/Hispanic children of mothers with higher levels of depressive symptoms report greater support from non-parental adults. Conclusions: These results suggest that parenting support may in this cross-sectional study be a response to maternal need. Further, the function of support from non-parental adults may vary for single-mother versus two-parent families, and Latino/Hispanic families in comparison to European American families.