Background: There is limited knowledge about how positive and negative parenting practices differ across individuals and change over time in parents with substantiated physical abuse history, and how trajectories of these parenting practices affect child adjustment. Objective: The present study examined latent trajectories of positive and negative regard expressed by parents during parent-child interactions, assessed annually from children's preschool to first grade years, and compared how these trajectories differentially predicted child outcomes in first grade. Methods: Parents with substantiated physical abuse (n = 43) were followed prospectively from their children's preschool to first grade years. Latent class growth analysis (LCGA) was used to model trajectories of observer-rated parental positive and negative regard during this period. Teacher and parent-reported child academic, social-emotional, and behavioral functioning in first grade were compared across classes. Results: LCGA models indicated two subgroups of parents. Parents in the larger ("Warmer") class expressed consistently higher positive regard and lower negative regard toward their children compared to parents in the smaller ("Harsher") class. Children of parents in the Warmer class were rated by teachers as more academically competent and demonstrating better executive functioning than children of parents in the Harsher class. Conclusions: There is heterogeneity in trajectories of positive and negative parenting behaviors among parents with a history of physical abuse perpetration. Children of abusive parents who express higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect appear to be more protected from academic and behavioral maladjustment.