This article presents a 3-component model of parenting that places emotion at the heart of parental competence. The model emphasizes (a) child, parent, and contextual factors that activate parents' emotions; (b) orienting, organizing, and motivating effects that emotions have on parenting once aroused; and (c) processes parents use to understand and control emotions. Emotions are vital to effective parenting. When invested in the interest of children, emotions organize sensitive, responsive parenting. Emotions undermine parenting, however, when they are too weak, too strong, or poorly matched to child rearing tasks. In harmonious relationships emotions are, on average, positive because parents manage interactions so that children's and parents' concerns are promoted. In distressed relationships chronic negative emotion is both a cause and a consequence of interactions that undermine parents' concerns and children's development.

The present research proposes and tests an attributional model of parent cognition. Derived from correspondent inference theory, the model emphasizes that parents assess children's behavior primarily by determining whether that behavior reflects children's intentions and dispositions or, instead, constraints on children's control of behavior from situational pressures or developmental limitations in knowledge and ability. In 2 studies, support was obtained for 4 predictions. First, findings show that parents' assessments of children's behavior are closely tied to the developmental level of the child. As children developed, parents thought children's behavior was increasingly caused by personality dispositions and was increasingly intentional, under the child's control, and, for misconduct, understood to be wrong. Second, parents' affective reactions to misconduct were related to their assessments of its cause and, third, became increasingly negative as children developed. Positive affect, in contrast, was unrelated to attributions for children's positive behavior. Fourth, parents' assessments of children's behavior were affected by the behavior's desirability. Parents thought children's altruism was more intentional, dispositional, and under the child's control than children's misconduct. Implications for how parents assess and react to children's behavior are discussed.

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This study investigated the maternal concerns and emotions that may regulate one form of sensitive parenting, support for children's immediate desires or intentions. While reviewing a videotape of interactions with their 1-year-olds, mothers who varied on depressive symptoms reported concerns and emotions they had during the interaction. Emotions reflected outcomes either to children (child-oriented concerns) or to mothers themselves (parent-oriented concerns). Child-oriented concerns were associated with fewer negative emotions and more supportive behavior. Supportive parenting was high among mothers who experienced high joy and worry and low anger, sadness, and guilt. However, relations depended on whether emotions were child or parent oriented: Supportive behavior occurred more when emotions were child oriented. In addition, as depressive symptoms increased, mothers reported fewer child-oriented concerns, fewer child-oriented positive emotions, and more parent-oriented negative emotions. They also displayed less supportive behavior. Findings suggest that support for children's immediate intentions may be regulated by parents' concerns, immediate emotions, and depressive symptoms.

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