title: Parental causal attributions and emotions in daily learning situations with the child.
abstract: This study investigated the dynamics between the causal attributions parents reported daily for their children's success in learning situations and parental positive emotions. The sample consisted of 159 mothers and 147 fathers of 162 first graders (83 girls, 79 boys; aged from 6 to 7 years, M = 7.5 years, SD = 3.6 months). Parents filled in a structured diary questionnaire concerning their causal attributions and emotions over 7 successive days in the fall semester and again over 7 successive days in the spring semester. Multilevel analyses showed that both parental causal attributions and positive emotions varied more within parents (between days over the week) than between parents. Furthermore, mothers' positive emotions on a certain day predicted their causal attributions on that same day rather than vice versa. The higher the level of positive emotions parents reported in a specific day, the more they used effort and ability as causal attributions for their offspring's success on that same day.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Emmi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Enlund
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Kaisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aunola
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Asko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tolvanen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Jari-Erik
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Nurmi
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires