Objective: Studies have revealed that parenting is a crucial factor for children’s effortful control and externalizing behaviors, however, less is known about the underlying mechanism that may be moderated by maternal depression. Therefore, the present study is aimed to testify the mediating effect of children’s effortful control and moderating effect of maternal depression in the association between parenting(i.e. limit setting, overprotective/permissive parenting) and children’s externalizing behaviors. Methods: Three hundred and one mothers with 4 to 6 years old children reported their parenting behaviors, depression, their children’s effortful control and externalizing behaviors. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Process Macro. Results: Results showed that children’s effortful control mediated the association between parenting and children’s externalizing behaviors and maternal depression moderated the association between parenting behaviors and children’s effortful control as well as between parenting behaviors and children’s externalizing behaviors. The moderated mediation effects were stronger among mothers with lower levels of depression. Conclusion/Implications: These findings could contribute to a better understanding of how and when maternal limit setting and overprotective/permissive parenting impact children’s externalizing behaviors. It is suggested that future efforts to provide the parenting intervention take a target specific approach (e.g. considering mother’s depression symptom), on order to maximize the effectiveness of program to ultimately facilitate children’s positive adjustment.