Suggests that the determinants of individual differences in parental functioning are illuminated by research on the etiology of child maltreatment. Three domains of determinants include parents' personal psychological resources, child characteristics, and contextual sources of stress and support. A process model of competent parental functioning…

Draws from works by Bronfenbrenner, Tinbergen, and Burgess to conceptualize child maltreatment as a social-psychological phenomenon that is multiply determined by individual, family, community, and cultural forces. (Author/GC)