Parental self-efficacy (PSE) is a key to the child-parent relationship. It reflects parents’ self-perception of their ability to perform parenting tasks successfully and a high level of parental self-efficacy is associated with positive child outcomes. The literature on cultural differences regarding PSE is scant. This study applied a cultural perspective and examined differences between Arab and Jewish mothers with regard to PSE and associated factors such as marital satisfaction, social support, wellbeing and stress. Based on a sample of 170 married mothers in Israel, it revealed that Arab mothers experienced a higher degree of PSE, marital satisfaction and wellbeing, as well as lower stress, than Jewish mothers. PSE among Arab mothers was predicted by marital satisfaction and stress. Among Jewish mothers, PSE was predicted by stress and wellbeing as well as financial indicators. The paper discusses the findings from a cultural perspective, focusing on the experience of parenting in an Arab, collective, traditional and patriarchic society compared to parenting in a Jewish, individualistic, liberal society. The study concludes that it is important to consider the cultural context of parenting to the sense of parental efficacy and to understand the cultural norms and values of individuals whose parenting capacity comes under assessment. Based on the findings it was suggested that family therapy or spousal therapy may provide benefit to Arab mothers who report a low level of PSE. For Jewish mothers, alleviating financial hardship and providing material help could provide similar benefits, in addition to lowering the mother’s level of stress. Limitations of the study as well as future studies directions were also discussed.

The study expands the literature on parents’ mental health and risk of poor parenting by exploring the association between parental mental health diagnoses and types of child maltreatment among 522 parents who were adjudicated for child maltreatment by Israeli courts. The study was cross-sectional and used a manual for the content analysis of court cases. The results showed that 62% of the parents suffered from mental health problems, including emotional problems, personality disorders, mental illness or intellectual disability. Child neglect was associated with all types of mental health diagnoses for both the mothers and fathers. However, child abuse and specifically physical abuse were associated only with the mother’s mental health diagnoses. The mother’s mental illness and personality disorder predicted child neglect and the mother’s personality disorder predicted child abuse, after controlling for poverty, child’s intellectual disability and age. No mental health diagnosis of the father predicted child maltreatment. The study concluded that the effect of mental health condition is greater for mothers. A mother’s personality disorder and mental illness should raise a special concern. Screening for maternal mental health in every case involved in the child welfare system and implications of the findings for prevention of child maltreatment are discussed.

Since social work practice interfaces with the law in various ways, there is a need to integrate legal studies into social work education. Currently, social work curricula leave little room for basic legal education and, furthermore, there appears to be a general negative reaction to the law among social workers. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the importance of law to social work, and discusses aspects of the law that are particularly valuable to social work education and practice. We contend that it is vital to provide social work students with basic legal education in order to promote efficient social work practice and collaboration between the law and social work. We analyze inter-connections between social work and legal disciplines and discuss the challenges and benefits derived from combining the two disciplines. Key areas of legal education that should be addressed in order to educate future effective social work practitioners are also discussed. The discussion is based on our experience in providing legal education to social work students, our belief in the importance of law to social work, and our experience in the practice of both legal and social work.