The mediating role of psychological flexibility in the relationship between parental competence and parental stress

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between parental stress, parenting competence, and psychological flexibility, and to evaluate the mediating role of psychological flexibility in the relationship between parental stress and parenting competence. The study group consisted of a total of 807 parents, including 456 (56.5%) women and 351 (43.5%) men, all of whom had at least one child under the age of 18. During the data collection process, the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (Demir & Gündüz, 2014), the Parental Stress Scale (Gördesli & Sünbül, 2021), the Psychological Flexibility Scale (Karakuş & Akbay, 2020), and a Personal Information Form were utilized. The data were analyzed using Pearson's product-moment correlation and independent samples t-tests via IBM SPSS 25, while Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed through AMOS 22. The findings revealed that women had significantly higher levels of perceived parenting competence than men, whereas no statistically significant differences were found between genders in terms of parental stress and psychological flexibility. Analyses based on employment status showed that unemployed parents reported higher parenting competence, but no significant differences were observed in terms of parental stress or psychological flexibility. Moreover, no significant differences were found regarding parental competence, stress, or psychological flexibility based on the number of children or the developmental period of the child. Another key finding of the study was that parenting competence was positively correlated with psychological flexibility, while both parenting competence and psychological flexibility were negatively correlated with parental stress. Finally, psychological flexibility was found to play a partial mediating role in the relationship between parenting competence and parental stress. These findings emphasize the importance of both parenting competence and psychological flexibility in reducing parental stress. The results are discussed in the context of the relevant literature, and recommendations for future research and practical applications are provided. Keywords: Parental stress, parenting competence, psychological flexibility.