Introduction to the Special Section: Mind and Matter: New Insights on the Role of Parental Cognitive and Neurobiological Functioning in Process Models of Parenting

This is an introduction to the special section on neurobiological and neurocognitive factors in parenting. The collection of 11 papers are published in 2 serial subsections of consecutive issues of the journal. The science they present captures the leading edge of work examining the interface of cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physiological self-regulation in parenting and how these operate to protect or increment risk for poorer parenting among families who face chronic stressors (e.g., poverty, single parenthood, homelessness, mood disorders). Samples span the poor to the affluent, many ethnicities, several nationalities, and a wide variety of geographic locations. The studies also are diverse in the methods employed, spanning behavioral and questionnaire indicators of executive function and effortful control, attentional and social-cognitive biases, and psychophysiology. Taken together, the papers present clear and compelling evidence for the crucial role of parental neurobiological and neurocognitive deficits and strengths in the etiology of distressed and resilient parenting.