This study explored how mothers attributed children’s distress and its relation to maternal comforting behavior. The participants were forty-three mothers and their second-grade children recruited from an elementary school in Taipei. Children’s weekly journals were collected for three months. The distressing events cited more frequently in the journals were selected for excerpts of hypothetical situations. The mothers were interviewed individually and asked to reflect on their comforting practices in general and under those situations. The interview data were analyzed inductively. The results revealed that maternal attribution was related to their judgment of children’s responsibility in the distressing events. The child’s responsibility was judged by two dimensions: controllability and duty. Controllability referred to the extent to which the child was able to alter or ameliorate the events. The degree of controllability was a continuum ranging from uncontrollable to controllable. Mothers tended to comfort their children under uncontrollable conditions, whereas they were more likely to reason things out under the controllable ones. Duty included the rules that were agreed upon in the family and social obligations. Once the child has learned the rules, his/her wishes to violate rules were conceived to be unjustified and irresponsible. School-related obligations such as doing homework and being earnest in learning were highly valued by Asian parents as the child’s mission in childhood. Apart from controllability and duty, there were idiosyncratic frames to which mothers referred as they made attribution. The findings were discussed in light of cultural values and the impact on parenting practices.
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