Developing the “Causes of Poverty in Developing Countries Questionnaire (CPDCQ)” in a Spanish-Speaking Population

Abstract

From information supplied by 1,092 university students from countries with different levels of development, in this work we developed an up-to-date instrument to allow the causes of poverty in developing countries to be studied. Taking the Causes of Third World Poverty Questionnaire (CTWPQ; Harper, 2002), the most widely used instrument for this purpose as the starting point, and taking into account contributions made by other authors, The Causes of Poverty in Developing Countries Questionnaire (CPDCQ) was developed. It is an instrument of 20 items organized into 5 factors: “Blame causes within developing countries”, “Blame causes external to developing countries”, “Blame attributed to developing countries' populations”, “Blame attributed to developing countries' services”, and “Blame attributed to the poor distribution of land in developing countries”.

Atribuciones sobre las causas de la pobreza general e infantil en Argentina

“…Se generó un cuestionario que incluía 32 enunciados sobre las causas de la pobreza general (Tabla 1) y un segundo cuestionario con 30 ítems sobre atribuciones causales de la pobreza infantil (Tabla 2), en base a los utilizados por diferentes grupos de investigación en otros estudios sobre el tema (e. g., Bolitho et al, 2007;Cozzarelli et al, 2001;Dunga y Makhalima, 2016;Flanagan et al, 2014;Ige y Nekhwevha, 2014;Nayak, 2016;Reyna y Reparaz, 2014;Vázquez et al, 2010Vázquez et al, , 2017Weiss-Gal et al, 2009). El orden de los ítems fue establecido de manera aleatoria.…”

Attributions about homelessness in homeless and domiciled people in Madrid, Spain: “Why are they homeless people?”.

“…), whether they suffer from poverty and/or exclusion, and their expectations as regards their own situation (their perception of developments in their own situation, expectations for the future, etc. (Panadero & Vázquez, 2008; Vázquez, Panadero, & Pascual, 2010). Several authors have noted that, in general, people with higher status tend to attribute poverty to individualistic causes to a greater extent, whereas people with lower status tend to express greater agreement with structural or societal explanations for it (Campbell, Carr, & Maclachlan, 2001; Feather, 1974; Furnham, 1982; Mickelson & Hazlett, 2014; Shirazi & Biel, 2005; Vázquez & Panadero, 2009).…”

Measuring Attributions 50 Years on: From within-Country Poverty to Global Inequality

“…While most research in the realm of poverty attributions so far has focused on domestic poverty, in the early 1990s, some scholars developed an interest in the global dynamics of poverty. Harper and colleagues designed the Causes of Third-World Poverty Scale [ 32 ], which was later on translated and validated in other languages [ 33 ]. Their principal component analysis indicated the following four factors: blame the poor, blame third-world governments, blame nature, and blame exploitation.…”

“…More specifically, examining inequality as opposed to poverty considers the advantaged as well as the disadvantaged group or person—an important aspect given the historical and societal mechanisms through which social injustice is perpetuated. Finally, some authors have discussed the fact that the poverty attributions scales are based on items developed several decades ago [ 33 ].…”