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This study examined the relationships among parent psychological well-being, parents' perceptions of their children's social competence, and reported use of authoritative parenting strategies during the kindergarten year. Parents of 179 kindergarten children in a small Midwestern U.S. city who were also involved in a Head Start Transition Study were recruited for this study. All parent measures were collected in interviews conducted in the home. In the fall of the kindergarten year, parents were asked to assess their children's social skills using the Social Skills Rating Scale and to complete a global measure of the parents' self-esteem. A measure of authoritative parenting was completed the following spring. Preliminary analyses indicated that both parents' self-esteem and parents' ratings of their children's social competence in the fall of kindergarten were predictive of more authoritative parenting skills in spring, after accounting for the influence of poverty and parent educational level. (Author)