Introduction:

The family, through child rearing, has a key role in the development of children's social skills and self-care.

Objective:

To describe parental styles, parental self-efficacy and perception of children behavior's problems among parents and caregivers, and explore differences by sex and place of residence in three municipalities of Santander.

Material and Method:

Quantitative, observational, descriptive cross-sectional study. Participants were parents and caregivers of children under 12 years old, living in the municipalities of Girón, Lebrija, and Matanza. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Parenting Scale and the Parenting Tasks Checklist were used. Comparisons were made by sex, municipality, and zone (urban/rural).

Results:

Participants were 1425 parents and caregivers of children under 12 years old. Most participants were female (80%) and mothers (70%). High prevalence of dysfunctional parental styles was identified with predominance of over reactivity (36%), laxness (23%) and hostility (22%). Higher percentage of difficulties with parent's contextual self-efficacy was identified in the rural area (p<0,001).

Conclusions:

This study found dysfunctional parental styles and perception of children's behavioral problems that suggest the need for population-based interventions focused on parental skills for parents and caregivers. Child rearing is proposed as a process of interest in public health.