Parental self-efficacy (PSE) emerges as a crucial variable into exploring variability in parenting quality. After introducing the link between PSE and parental competence, the role of PSE on parenting quality, its multiple influences, and transactional effects connected to contextual or cultural variables are discussed. The chapter addresses some key issues: (a) the levels of PSE measurement (i.e., domain-or task-specific approach), their interrelationship and magnitude as mutual predictors (study 1); (b) infant-caring, parent's adjustment, and PSE development in the transition to parenthood (study 2); (c) parenting difficult children and the role of PSE as a "buffer" variable moderating the effects of negative child's characteristics on parenting skills; and (d) PSE beliefs in family context, the relationships with other family measures (marital self-efficacy and stress), and their associations with children's adjustments (study 3). Finally, in the study 4, PSE is presented as an outcome variable in a parent training. In all summarized studies, a special attention was devoted to father's PSE as a specific factor affecting childrearing and parent's well-being. As Bandura says, PSE is not a personality trait, but a learnable set of beliefs producing positive effects on parenting quality. Suggestions for family-based interventions enhancing PSE are discussed.

Digital media have quickly changed ways in which parents and children communicate, enjoy themselves, acquire information, and solve problems daily (both in ordinary and exceptional circumstances such as COVID-19 home confinement). Very young children are regular users of smartphones and tablet, so their early digital engagement poses new challenges to parent-child relationships and parental role. First, the chapter introduces the "digital parenting" construct, moving through the literature from "traditional" parenting styles to more recent studies on "parental mediation," that is, the different behaviors parents adopt to regulate children's engagement with the Internet and digital media. Second, the chapter reviews empirical researches on different parental mediation practices (active or restrictive behaviors) and how they are adjusted according to the child's characteristics (age, digital competences, etc.) or parent's media competence and beliefs. Finally, from a bidirectional perspective of parent-child relationships, the chapter discusses the role of youths' social involvement, communication, self-disclosure, and digital skills on parent's beliefs and practices. Implications for parent education and prevention of risks for early and excessive exposure to digital technologies are discussed.

Our results strongly suggest that dyslexic readers are less capable of significantly improve their reading speed when they read silently. Thus SRF could be considered a suitable parameter for identifying older students and adults with impairment in reading. A broader investigation of the issues surrounding silent reading is needed.

The questionnaire was a pioneer initiative in the CdCS support group, and the answers used in this study can improve the health care assistance to these patients because they focus attention on the demands from a parental perspective. In addition, nearly half of the families stated that they did not remember information regarding recurrence risk, which reinforces the importance of genetic counselling follow-up and the need for the expansion of genetic services in Brazil.

Caring for a child with an acute/life threatening disease exposes parents to multiple stressors and challenges, resulting in a physical and psychological burden. Parents experience many health-related issues and worries that often remain underestimated. The aims of the study were: (a) to explore the associations between needs/disease-related issues and burden in parents of children with leukemia or Hodgkin’s disease; (b) to estimate predictors of parents’ burden using a stepwise linear regression analysis. Children (N = 33) followed an active therapy protocol (48.5%), or they were off therapy (51.5%). Forty-four parents completed surveys on caregiver burden levels and needs to cope with the child’s illness. Parental factors impacting burden (personal resources, loss of control, depression) and child’s quality of life (QoL) were also assessed. Among the needs, information about the illness/resources were the most urgently expressed by parents, followed by reassurance against fears for the child’s development and future well-being. Parents reported severe (27.3%) and moderate (22.7%) burden, with a higher percentage of caregivers with severe burden in the off-therapy phase (18.2%) than in the active-therapy phase (9.1%). The child’s decreased physical QoL and parent’s loss of control predicted higher levels of burden. The implications for supportive interventions aimed at responding to parental needs and preventing caregiver burden are discussed.