From knowledge to warmth: a serial mediation model of parental self-regulation and infant care self-efficacy

Abstract This study investigated how parental knowledge of infant development contributes to parental warmth by examining the mediating roles of parental self-regulation and self-efficacy in infant care. A total of 501 parents (57.7% mothers; 42.3% fathers) of infants aged 0 to 12 months in Türkiye completed standardized self-report measures assessing their knowledge of infant development, ability to regulate their own emotions and behaviors in parenting, confidence in caregiving tasks, and perceived emotional warmth toward their infants. Correlation and mediation analyses revealed that parental knowledge of infant development was positively associated with both parental self-regulation and self-efficacy in infant care, and these psychological factors were in turn positively related to parental warmth. Importantly, the direct effect of parental knowledge of infant development on parental warmth was not significant, indicating that its influence is fully transmitted through parental self-regulation and self-efficacy in infant care. Additional analyses showed that the strength of these indirect effects varied slightly depending on number of children and education level, but not by parent gender. These findings suggest that improving parental knowledge of infant development alone may not be sufficient to enhance warmth in caregiving; rather, supporting parents’ emotional regulation and confidence is equally critical. The results highlight the importance of targeting multiple psychological processes in early parenting interventions, particularly in culturally diverse settings.