Models of helping and coping, responsibility attributions, and well-being in community elderly and their helpers.

Abstract

The analysis of Brickman et al. (1982), which separates attribution of a problem's cause and solution, was tested in 4 studies. Young and elderly adults' (n = 210) well-being was related only to taking responsibility for solutions. The elderly compared with the young adults assumed less responsibility for problem cause and solution. They also preferred helping and coping models that assume low self-responsibility for solutions (e.g., medical model). This result was replicated with Meals on Wheels clients (n = 51). An intragenerational helping pattern was found in Study 3. Lay helpers (n = 63) helped mainly same-age recipients. Elderly and middle-aged helpers compared with young adults preferred using a medical model. Overall, a cohort bias in model preference was suggested. In Study 4, problem type and recipient age moderated attributions and model choice of young and middle-aged Ss (n = 92). Relevance to the control literature and ethical and clinical implications of a medical-model bias are discussed.

A Relational Schema Approach to Social Support

“…As a result, research shows that stressful situations that are appraised as threats to self-esteem tend to be associated with a reduced likelihood of seeking and receiving social support, including aid, informational and emotional support (Dunkel-Schetter, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1987;Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-Schetter, DeLongis & Gruen, 1986). It is when people do not perceive themselves as responsible for the problem, and so do not blame themselves for their predicament, that they seem to be most likely to seek social support (Karuza, Zevon, Gleason, Karuza, & Nash, 1990). …”

Effect of Therapist Color-Blindness on Empathy and Attributions in Cross-Cultural Counseling.

“…Clinician attributions of client responsibility for the cause of and solution to a problem were assessed by Cause and Solution Scales developed by Karuza, Zevon, Gleason, Karuza, and Nash (1990). Each scale comprises three items.…”

Attributions of Responsibility for Memory Problems in Older and Younger Adults

“…Among the older participants (ages 65-100 years), 2 reported not having a high school diploma, 7 reported having a high school diploma, 30 reported having some college, 24 reported having a bachelor's degree, 9 reported having some graduate work, 15 reported having a master's degree, and 4 reported having a doctoral degree. Although the ages of the participants were comparable with other studies involving comparisons between younger and older adults (Erber, 1989;Erber & Rothberg, 1991;Karuza et al, 1990;Parr & Siegert, 1993;Rodin & Langer, 1980), the education level of the older adults was slightly higher than most samples. All participants were asked to volunteer for a study designed to better understand the psychology of advice columns (Karuza et al, 1990).…”

“…Both three-item scales for problem cause and problem solution have been found to be internally consistent and reliable. Internal consistency has been found to range from .70 to .88 for the Cause items and from .63 to .70 for the Solution items (Hayes & Wall, in press;Karuza et al, 1990). The alpha values for the Cause and Solution scales in this study were .86 and .79, respectively.…”

“…The three items, from Karuza et al (1990), were the following: "To what extent do you feel the person in the vignette is personally responsible for the cause of the (memory or weight) problem?" "To what extent do you feel the person in the vignette could have avoided the (memory or weight) problem?"…”