Is early childhood a developmental period for parents? Changes in parenting strengths in low-income families.

The present study examined profiles of parental strengths and changes in these strengths across the transition from toddlerhood to early childhood. Participants were 4,520 mothers with low incomes from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Latent class analysis was used to identify unique classes of parental strengths at child ages 3 and 5, and latent transition analysis was used to examine transitions in class membership across this period. Four classes of parental strengths were identified at child ages 3 and 5. Parents were characterized as "psychologically regulated with interparental strain," "psychosocially regulated with coercive behavior," "psychologically dysregulated," and having "multidomain parental strengths." Class membership was least stable for the "psychologically dysregulated" class and most stable for the "multidomain parental strengths" class. Parents' perceived self-efficacy predicted initial parental strengths and changes in these strengths over time. The present findings provide insight into how and why parental strengths might change across the transition from toddlerhood to early childhood among low-income families and can support the development of more tailored, strengths-based interventions for this population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).