As any parent knows, anger towards children is a natural occurrence of parenting. Since it is important to identify and address some of the emotional issues that underlie child abuse, the role of anger in parenting and in child maltreatment is covered in this paper. An ecological analysis of parental anger is presented, with special emphasis on environmental determinants, such as employment and financial situations, the family environment, and individual factors. The link between parental anger and child physical abuse is presented next, along with a discussion of the parallels between frustration and anger. Since parental anger responses may follow or be intensified by child behavior problems, anger specifically related to child behavior should be an assessment priority. Several assessment instruments are profiled. It is suggested that researchers and clinicians should look more at social cognition and its interplay with emotional arousal, regulation, and interpretation of situations in order to lessen the incidence of physical abuse. Contains 23 references. (RJM)