Background: Media exposure to mass violence incidents (MVI) is related to distress in the general public not directly exposed to these tragedies. However, limited attention has focused beyond this relationship. Objective: This cross-sectional study explores the influence of media exposure to MVI on parenting behaviors among parents of children ages 5-18 years old. Method: Parents (N=359; 60.4% female) were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform to complete a survey of parenting behaviors, mental health, media exposure to MVI (time spent viewing media coverage of MVI, and initial emotional reactions to the media coverage) for two MVIs, and prior trauma. Hierarchical multiple regression models were conducted for each parenting behavior. The moderating influence of sex, child age, and prior trauma were explored. Result: Media exposure to MVI was not related to instilling autonomy or parental discipline, but had some significant relationships to other parenting behaviors, that depended on parental sex, and sometimes child age and parent prior trauma. For females, emotional reactions to media exposure to MVI was significantly associated with several parenting behaviors, sometimes directly, sometimes moderated by age or prior trauma, but time spent viewing was not significantly related. For males, there were fewer significant relationships to parenting behavior. Initial emotional reactions of anger and sadness to media coverage increased positive parenting, whereas initial anxious reactions increased ignoring. Time viewing media coverage of MVI decreased harsh punishment, but there was variability by child age. Conclusion: Media exposure to MVI may influence some aspects of parenting and there is a need for more research.