The Role of Negative Affect and Physiological Regulation in Maternal Attribution

SYNOPSIS

Objective. Mothers who attribute child misbehaviors to children’s intentions, and not to situational causes, show more hostile parenting behaviors. Why are some mothers more likely than others to make more hostile attributions (i.e., high intentional attributions and low situational attributions) when confronted with child challenging behaviors? We examined the relation between mothers’ perception of child challenging behaviors and their hostile attributions of child misbehaviors, with an emphasis on how maternal negative affect and resting vagal activity moderated this relation. Design. One hundred sixty mothers of 3- to 7-year-old children reported their perceptions of child problem behaviors, their attributions regarding child misbehaviors, and their temperamental negative affect. Mothers’ respiratory sinus arrhythmia was measured during resting state. Results. Maternal perceptions of child challenging behaviors were positively related to hostile maternal attributions, and this relation was strongest in mothers with high negative affect and low resting RSA. Conclusions. These findings indicate the importance of considering mothers’ affective and physiological attributes when examining social-cognitive processes in parenting.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We sincerely thank the study participants and research staff. We are particularly grateful to Nan Chen, Shereen El Mallah, and Naama Atzaba-Poria for their input on prior drafts of this manuscript.

FUNDING

This research was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grants HD 57319 and HD 60110. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NICHD or National Institutes of Health.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grants HD 57319 and HD 60110. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NICHD or National Institutes of Health.