Children’s attributions about teachers’ intentions

Abstract

Hostile attribution bias (HAB) has been shown to predict aggressive behavior, especially toward peers. The current study examined whether HAB is also related to conflict with teachers, an important predictor of academic and social success in school‐aged children. A total of 282 second to fourth grade boys in 74 classrooms completed a self‐report measure of HAB toward teachers, while their teachers assessed conflict in the teacher–student relationship. Results supported the presence of a positive relationship between HAB toward teachers and conflict with teachers. These findings suggest that HAB toward teachers may be an indicator of difficulties and, pending further research, a potential avenue for intervention to improve teacher–student relationships.

Review of participatory research assent procedures in school psychology

“…Participants were also informed of their right to withdraw at any point, and that their responses were confidential, anonymous, and not identifiable. Samson and Wehby (2019) took small groups or individual participants to explain the study to them and provided an opportunity for the participants to ask questions. Then, written assent was sought.…”

Children’s social information processing in ambiguous situations with teachers: A measure development study

“…Wyatt and Haskett (2001) found similar results in a sample of aggressive and non-aggressive adolescents. Moreover, Samson and Wehby (2019) reported a small association between hostile attribution bias and teacher-rated conflict in a sample of primary school boys. These researchers have all used written vignettes to examine SIP in teacher-child interactions.…”

“…Overall, the magnitude of the correlations with teachers' relationship reports was small (i.e., rs ≤ .20; see Table S1 in Supplementary Materials), but not lower than in other recent research (cf. Samson & Wehby, 2019). Only one unique association was found (Table 2).…”

“…Research has consistently shown that children's atypical social information processing (SIP) can explain interpersonal problems (Crick & Dodge, 1994). To date, however, research has almost exclusively focused on SIP in hypothetical situations with peers, and far less so with adults (e.g., Dodge & Price, 1994) or teachers (e.g., Samson & Wehby, 2019;Wyatt & Haskett, 2001). SIP is a complex process.…”