ABSTRACT
The present study investigated the potential mediating role of social support and parental psychological capital in the relationship between family socio-economic status and parenting sense of competence among preschool parents in China. Stratified sampling was employed for participant selection, with a total of 1473 parents completing questionnaires on family socio-economic status, social support, psychological capital and parenting sense of competence. The findings revealed positive correlations between family socio-economic status, social support, psychological capital and parenting sense of competence among parents of preschool children. Moreover, social support and psychological capital were found to play a chain mediating role in the relationship between family socio-economic status and parental parenting sense of competence for preschool children. These results suggest that high-quality social support should be provided within the Chinese context to cultivate positive psychological capital and enhance parental parenting sense of competence, thereby mitigating the impact of low family socio-economic status on parenting stress.