Maternal emotion and cognitive control capacities and parenting: A conceptual framework

• Maternal emotion/cognitive control is meaningfully associated with parenting.
• Stress, fatigue, and other factors cause these capacities to fluctuate in adults.
• Interventions should include strategies to address parent executive functioning.
• Longitudinal studies on maternal cognitive control and parenting are needed.

PurposeEmerging evidence suggests that maternal emotion and cognitive control capacities are critical to the development and maintenance of parenting practices and may be related to parents' ability to seek and use parenting help. The purpose of this paper is to present a cohesive conceptual framework on the intersection of maternal emotion and cognitive control capacities and parenting based on a review of literature.MethodsWe conducted a comprehensive literature review of articles published between 2000 and February 2014 that addressed maternal emotion and cognitive control and parenting. The 35 articles identified were assigned a methodological quality score.ResultsLow maternal emotion and cognitive control capacity is associated with increased risk of engaging in child maltreatment, whereas higher maternal emotion and cognitive regulation is associated with sensitive, involved parenting. Contextual factors, such as SES and household organization, play a complex and not clearly understood role on the association between maternal cognitive control and parenting. A conceptual framework was developed based on the results of the literature review.ConclusionsThe conceptual framework developed can be used to inform future research and practice. Longitudinal studies that assess the temporal relationship of maternal emotion and cognitive control and parenting are necessary to establish causality. Research that addresses how maternal emotion regulation and cognitive control capacities are related to mothers' enrollment and participation in parenting and early intervention programs is an important next step to strengthening policy and intervention work.