Children are socially perceived with need of protection and support (UNICEF, 2022). Parents as reference figures try to provide them with opportunities and resources to develop their full personal potential. However, their parenting role is conditioned by many factors, as parenting competences. According to Masten & Curtis (2000), these competences can be understood as skills, abilities and attitudes to educate their children according to their needs and developmental stage, as well as family circumstances. Parenting competences make it easier for adults to organize family life, develop positive educational styles and promote the full development of their children (Ponzetti, 2016).

However, performing the parenting role may generate some extend of uncertainty amongst parents (Martínez-González et al, 2016), as evidenced when they look for advice to school or social services and other entities. In this way, the Council of Europe Recommendation 2006/19 on policies to promote positive parenting in Europe suggest that European Union states support parents for upbringing and educating their children. Álvarez et al. (2020) analyze how positive parenting is linked to the attachment theory, parental parenting practices of self-regulation, sense of parental competence, family stress and social support, all of these being key factors for parenting and socialization during childhood. These are key issues to promote positive family relationships through assertive communication, coherent norms and limits to children's behavior, positive strategies for conflict resolution, thus avoiding any kind of violence and children maltreatment. These skills should be expected in both parents to be put into practice since the early childhood developmental stage of their children.

Previous theoretical and empirical studies show that mothers are traditionally more involved in the upbringing and education of their children (Nunes & Ayala-Nunes, 2017). Research conducted by Martínez-González et al. (2021) indicate that mothers tend to show greater communication competence than fathers when interacting with children and in fostering their self-esteem. On the other hand, the maternal sense of competence is an important predictor of mothers’ abilities to provide an adaptive, stimulating, and nurturing child-rearing environment (Locke & Prinz, 2002). This sense of parenting competence should be also expected on the part of the fathers as well (Petch & Halford, 2008). According to Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2008), fathers’ sense of parenting competences is related with their involvement in children rearing practices. Fathers who perceive themselves as competent in their role are likely to be more effective in the care of their children (Gilmore & Cuskelly, 2008).

According to these ideas, this study focuses on analyzing emotional and social parenting competences of fathers with 6-12 years old children considering educational and contextual factors which could influence them. These competences being Self-regulation, Self-esteem, Communication and Non-imposition taking into account previous studies conducted by the authors (Martínez-González et al., 2021). The specific research questions addressed were: Does the fathers' educational level influence their parenting skills, and do these skills differ according to their children's school level and the family rural or urban background?

The research sample was composed of 760 Spanish fathers with children between 6 to 12 years old who lived in urban (73%) and rural areas (27%). Compulsory, high school and higher education levels were considered regarding their literacy standards. The distribution of these categories in the sample was: 32.4% higher education; 41.1% high school; and 26.6% compulsory education. According to the children's school level, 36.6% attended the first or second year of primary education (Primary I), 30.1% attended the third or fourth year (Primary II), and 33.3% attended the fifth or sixth year (Primary III). An exploratory study was carried out collecting information with the Scale of Emotional and Social Parenting Competences for Parents of Adolescents (ECOPES-P) (Martínez-González et al., unpublished) to analyze 4 factors: Emotional Self-Control, Self-Esteem, Imposition, and Communication. Questions were followed by a Likert type scale of four categories: 1-never to 4-always. Skewness and kurtosis [−1; +1] were calculated to check variables normality (DeCarlo, 1997). The average and the standard deviation were calculated. Socio-demographic variables on children' school level, father' educational background and rural/urban context were considered to identify potential statistical differences in the four factors of the scale. To identify significant statistical differences on fathers' parenting skills according to their literacy level (Compulsory, High School and Higher Education) and according to children’ school level, ANOVA analysis was performed, as well as post-hoc pairwise comparisons through Scheffe's (p<.05). To check contextual (rural and urban) significant statistical differences on parenting skills Students' t (p<.05) was calculated. The analyses were performed with SPSS 27.0.

Results indicate a medium-high level of parenting sense of competence of the fathers in the sample. This being higher regarding their self-esteem. Children's school level made significant differences in three items of the scale: "I know how to relax and control my emotions in front of my children" (Selg-Regulation) (p = .005), "When my children disobey me, I impose to solve the situation" (Imposition) (p = .042) and "On a daily basis I usually tell my children the positive things I see in them" (Communication) (p = .29), showing that these behaviors are more frequent among fathers of younger children (Primary I). The fathers´ educational level also showed significant differences in Imposition (p = .000). Fathers with lower levels of education (Compulsory Education) were more likely to use imposition parental styles with their children. Regarding the background (rural or urban) no significant differences were observed in any factors or in any of the items of the scale. The results suggest that the fathers in the sample tend to perceive themselves with self-confidence in their parenting competences. However, those with less academic background and older children might need to reinforce them as protective factors for children’s upbring. Thus, it seems necessary to support fathers in promoting their skills to gain better quality in fathers-children’s relations. This could be addressed through positive parenting programs and taking into account a gender approach.

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