Abstract
The development of social-emotional learning (SEL) skills is thought to provide children with social and emotional competencies for successful social adaptation. Parenting is an ongoing process and features myriad aspects such as modeling, sensitivity, and responsivity, all of which are relevant to socio-emotional development. Generally, parents are invited to participate in group training due to children exhibiting behavior that is difficult to manage. An important question is to identify which specific skills may have a greater impact on parenting competencies and how to translate these skills in a learning group session. The objective is to better identify parenting competencies specifically supporting the development of children’s socio-emotional skills, their characteristics, and the instruments for assessing these parenting skills. A scoping review followed by a content analysis was conducted. Five databases (CINAHL, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycArticles, SocINDEX) were searched and 234 retrieved articles were screened using exclusion and inclusion criteria. Sixteen relevant studies were retained, and data was extracted respecting standard rules. Eight different competencies were identified, of which four dimensions emerged: emotional awareness, support availability, parenting approach, and environmental stress management. Thirty-one tools assessing parenting competencies were grouped in these four dimensions. Taken together, these dimensions seem to complement each other in relation to the necessary characteristics for adequate parenting competencies promoting children’s SEL skills development. Teaching parents and caregivers parenting competencies and their attributes will allow them to better manage their own emotional reactivity and respond to children’s emotions in a more flexible and supportive manner.
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A.N., V.B-K., M.S.: collaborated in designing the manuscript, co-conducting the review, provided feedback throughout the duration of the reviewing and writing process, and writing sections of the paper. M.H.J.: collaborated in designing the manuscript, co-conducting the review, writing sections of the paper, and editing manuscript drafts.
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Highlights
• Few studies have evaluated the overall parenting competencies that promote the development of children’s SEL skills.
• The literature review brought to light eight parenting competencies grouped into four different dimensions: emotional awareness, support availability, parenting approach, and environmental stress management.
• An innovation here is the emerged dimensions of parenting competencies linked specifically to children’s social and emotional development, which might be endorsing particular forms of balanced parenting.
• The proposed dimensions will hopefully meet needs, enhance family capacity, and promote both child and family wellness once included in different interventional or conceptualization opportunities.
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Ndengeyingoma, A., Jacob, M.H., Beaulieu-Kratchanov, V. et al. Parenting Competencies Supporting the Development of Social and Emotional Skills of Children—a Scoping Review. Trends in Psychol. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-022-00194-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-022-00194-3