Parental self-efficacy as a mediating factor in the relationship between parent's knowledge of child education and parental guilt

In our society, like everything else, our family structures change. The changing family structure is moving away from the traditional extended family concept and the nuclear family structure is becoming widespread. This situation deprives today's parents of the experiences, knowledge, and psychological support traditionally passed down through generations in extended family structures. Parents acquire this knowledge and experience through experience, but sometimes they feel inadequate. Problems can often arise, especially in a sensitive issue such as child education. Parents who think that they are inadequate in educating their children may feel guilty. This study aims to examine the relationship between parents' knowledge of child education and parental guilt and to determine the mediating effect of parental self-efficacy in this relationship. The sample of the research consists of 103 parents who live in Turkey and have children between the ages of 2-6. For data collection in the study, a Demographic Characteristics Information Form, Child Education Competence Scale, Parental Guilt Scale, and Revised Berkeley Parental Self-Efficacy Scale were used, all developed by the researcher. Research data was collected online throughout Türkiye. The data obtained from 103 participants were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods in International Business Machines Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) Statistics 22 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) v21 program. The findings of the study showed that there was a significant relationship between child education knowledge and parental self-efficacy, but there was no significant relationship between parental self-efficacy and child education knowledge and parental guilt. As a result, the concept of parental self-efficacy did not have a mediating effect on the relationship between parents' knowledge of child education and parental guilt.