Chronic and temporary influences on mothers’ attributions for children’s disobedience were examined. Sixty mothers of 6- to 8-year-olds were induced to feel happy, angry, or unemotional. The mothers then watched videotapes of children disobeying parental requests either immediately (easy task) or following 15 s of continuing activity (difficult task).
First, stable child-rearing ideologies influenced attributions for disobedient acts: Authoritarian mothers reported more negative attributions and reactions than did non authoritarian mothers.
Second, mothers’ attributions were influenced by cues concerning how difficult obedient behavior was for the child: Attributions and reactions were more negative for immediate than delayed disobedience.
Third, happy mothers reported more negative attributions and reactions than did unemotional mothers.Findings suggest that attributions of causality and responsibility mediate the effects that stable child-rearing attitudes and transient emotions and contextual cues have on mothers’ reactions to children’s misconduct.
