Effects of Parenting Efficacy, Partner Support, Parents’ and Other Kin’s Child Care Support on Child Problem Behaviors within African American and Latino/Hispanic Families

In many minority families, relying on extended kin for child care support is embedded within cultural values of familism. Using García Coll’s (1996) integrative model of minority children’s development, we investigate how child care support from parents and other kin, maternal partner support, and maternal perceived parenting competence impacts child socioemotional development of African American and Latino/Hispanic families. Data collected from a sample of preschool-aged children and families (n = 79) were used in the analyses. Results indicated that parents’ and other family members’ child care frequency, maternal parenting efficacy, and partner support were not significantly associated with child problem behaviors. Another analysis was conducted to determine whether race moderated effects on child internalizing or externalizing behaviors. Results showed that there was a significant difference in externalizing symptoms by race. Furthermore, there was a trending interaction effect of partner support and race on child internalizing symptoms. Specifically, when levels of partner support were lower, African American children were reported by their mothers to have higher levels of internalizing symptoms compared to their Latinx counterparts.