Facets of Adult Social Competence as Predictors of Parenting Style

A wealth of research suggests that parenting style influences the social development of children. Similarly, it seems reasonable that the environments parents create for their children will be predicted by their social competencies. There is limited research examining what facets of adult social competence predict parenting style. The present study contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between multiple facets of adult social competence and overall quality of parenting style as assessed by parents. Four-hundred parents completed self-report measures evaluating their parenting style and seven facets of their social competence including: emotional intelligence, assertion, conflict management, empathy, agency, communion, and social support. Stepwise regression was used to examine the additional contribution made to the prediction of parenting style quality after first accounting for parent and child sexes and ages, and frequency of child misbehavior. Results suggest that the aforementioned facets of social competence can account for approximately 25 % of the variance beyond control factors. Further research is needed to examine whether enhancing facets of adult social competence can improve how parents engage with their children.