Parenting self-efficacy refers to parents' estimation of their ability to fulfill various tasks associated with their demanding role1. It primarily manifests as the confidence and competence to help their children overcome challenges, handle socio-economic pressures, and face other difficulties2. Survey research has found that 39.92% of parents exhibit a "high emotional, low involvement" pattern regarding their children's academics, which is related to parents perceiving their own capabilities as limited. "Due to our own limitations, we do feel somewhat inadequate" reflects the true feelings of Chinese parents 3. Inadequate parenting self-efficacy has become a widespread issue among Chinese parents.
Parenting self-efficacy is considered a primary determinant of parenting behavior, influencing parents' psychological well-being and having a significant impact on children's psychological development and social adaptation4,5. Research indicates that low paternal parenting self-efficacy is associated with higher levels of hostile parenting6, while low maternal parenting self-efficacy has a significant bidirectional relationship with depression7. High parenting self-efficacy, on the other hand, positively affects empathy8, reduces children's behavioral problems4,9, enhances marital quality10, and improves overall family life quality11. This study will take the perspective of home-school cooperation to explore potential pathways for enhancing the parenting efficacy of Chinese parents.
Home-school cooperation and parenting self-efficacy
China's home-school cooperation originated in the 1950s and 1960s12and is considered a necessary measure for improving education quality and promoting educational equity. It aligns with the strategic needs of China's educational development13. This concept is known by various English expressions, including home-school cooperation, parental involvement, and parental-teacher collaboration. Despite different terminologies, they all refer to the joint participation of families and schools in students' education, involving communication and coordination to enhance students' academic development14,15.
The necessity of home-school cooperation is supported by various theories. For instance, Epstein's16 Overlapping Spheres of Influence Theory suggests that families and schools should collaborate and interact to meet students' developmental needs. Ecological systems theory emphasizes the role of intermediary systems in the interactions among different microsystems in a student's life. Strong, positive connections between microsystems, especially when school-based parental involvement is involved, are considered crucial for a child's educational success17. Particularly in the context of China's education system post the "double reduction" policy, parental support and assistance are highly needed.
Shumow and Lomx18posit that a crucial element in parent-school cooperation is parents' belief in their ability to have an impact on the environment influencing adolescents' development. Coleman and Karraker19found in their study that mothers with more parenting experience exhibited higher levels of self-efficacy in raising their children. The researchers further indicated that parental self-efficacy in raising children is associated with parents' cognition and behavior in child-rearing. According to the self-efficacy theory proposed by Bandura20, self-efficacy is influenced by various factors, including prior successful or unsuccessful experiences, observing others' experiences, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. These factors collectively shape an individual's formation and changes in self-efficacy regarding specific tasks. Parent-school cooperation offers parents numerous practical opportunities and experiences.Social learning theory21suggests that individuals acquire knowledge not only through direct trial-and-error learning but also by observing others' behaviors and outcomes. Through observation, individuals can learn new skills, knowledge, and behavioral patterns. Therefore, combining these two theories, parent-school cooperation can be considered an alternative experiential learning, obtained through observation, ultimately enhancing parents' self-efficacy. Research indicates that mothers are more involved in parent-school cooperation, dedicating themselves to their children's home education, and certain aspects of their self-efficacy surpass that of fathers22. Furthermore, Glatz and Buchanan23discovered in their study that positive parent-school cooperation can predict changes in parental self-efficacy.
In the past decade, numerous studies have emphasized the positive impact of home-school cooperation on various aspects, including students' academic performance, psychological well-being, and psychological disorder recovery15,24–26. However, there has been limited empirical research exploring how home-school cooperation affects Chinese parents from their perspective. Therefore, the first research question in this study aims to uncover the predictive role of home-school cooperation on the parenting efficacy of Chinese parents.
The mediating role of parenting psychological flexibility
How does home-school cooperation influence parenting self-efficacy? Through a review of theory and research, this study posits that parenting psychological flexibility may play a significant role in this relationship. Parenting psychological flexibility refers to the ability of parents to accept negative thoughts, emotions, and impulses related to their children while still being able to employ effective parenting strategies during the process of raising them27. Research indicates that the essence of parenting psychological flexibility includes concepts related to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), such as cognitive defusion, commitment to action, acceptance, and being present27. Effective home-school cooperation allows parents to adjust their social and emotional competence development strategies based on their children's developmental needs28. It helps parents form the right educational beliefs and methods, encouraging them to adopt more positive parenting styles29, enabling them to parent their children in a more flexible manner.
On the other hand, multiple studies have found that parents' parenting psychological flexibility has a significant positive impact on children's behavioral problems and psychological development. A study involving parents of rural Chinese preschoolers found that parents' psychological flexibility negatively predicts their children's internalizing and externalizing problems30. Low levels of parenting psychological flexibility increase the risk of emotional, behavioral, and peer problems in children, while high parenting psychological flexibility reduces the frequency of children's problem behaviors31. According to self-efficacy theory, this outcome provides positive feedback to parents, thereby enhancing their parenting self-efficacy. Additionally, research has further found that psychological flexibility can positively predict self-efficacy32. Given that psychological flexibility plays a significant role in improving parenting styles and parent-child interactions33, its role in the relationship between home-school cooperation and parenting self-efficacy is worth investigating.
The moderating role of work-family conflict
The process through which home-school cooperation affects parents' parenting efficacy may also be influenced by the individual state of parents. Not all forms of home-school cooperation enhance parents' parenting flexibility and efficacy. Work-family conflict refers to a role conflict that occurs when an individual's work demands and family demands are incongruent34,35. This conflict can have negative effects on an individual's psychological well-being and family functioning36,37.A meta-analysis of Chinese workers revealed a significant increase in work-family conflict among Chinese employees from 2005 to 2016, with family stress being a significant contributing factor. According to the Conservation of Resources theory38, individuals have limited resources to satisfy diverse role demands, and excessive resource depletion leads to stress. Employees facing overload at work will have reduced resources available for managing family matters39.
According to the Resource Depletion theory40, an individual's psychological resources are limited, and when parents invest excessive energy in conflicts, their commitment to child-rearing decreases, and levels of cognitively related psychological resources diminish. On the other hand, research has shown that high levels of work-family conflict are associated with irritable, less enthusiastic, and inconsistent parenting behaviors41. Mothers experiencing higher levels of work-family conflict tend to employ stricter parenting methods42, and work-family conflict significantly positively predicts parenting burnout43. Existing research has also established a significant negative correlation between negative parenting styles and academic performance44. According to self-efficacy theory, when individuals encounter setbacks in parenting behavior, it may weaken their parenting self-efficacy.
The current study
This study collects relevant data from Chinese parents through online surveys, aiming to investigate the relationship between home-school cooperation and parenting self-efficacy while examining the mediating and moderating mechanisms of this relationship. First, prior research has primarily focused on the influence of parental factors on student groups, with parenting self-efficacy identified as a positive factor beneficial for students45. Few studies have concentrated on the mutual interactions among parental variables. Secondly, most of the current research on home-school cooperation in China is centered on speculative and policy-related studies, lacking empirical research. The limited empirical studies are also largely centered on their impact on adolescents46. Home-school cooperation should not only be explored for its positive effects on students but also from the perspective of parents. Finally, work-family conflict may provide an explanation as to why, even in schools with effective implementation of home-school cooperation, parents may struggle to attain higher levels of parenting self-efficacy.
Based on the above empirical research and analysis, the following hypotheses(see Figure 1) are proposed: Home-school cooperation significantly and positively predicts parenting self-efficacy (H1); parenting psychological flexibility mediates the relationship between home-school cooperation and parenting self-efficacy (H2); work-family conflict moderates the relationship between home-school cooperation and parenting psychological flexibility, as well as the relationship between parenting psychological flexibility and parenting self-efficacy (H3).