Parents’ Attributions for Negative and Positive Child Behavior in Relation to Parenting and Child Problems

Abstract

Previous research has stressed the importance of parents' attributions and parenting for child problems. Based on social cognitive models, studies have focused on the interrelations among parents' child-responsibility attributions for negative behavior, harsh parenting, and child problems. Little is known about the extent to which child-responsibility attributions for positive behavior and other types of parenting play a role in these models. The purpose of this study was to examine whether parents' child-responsibility attributions for positive and negative child behaviors are related to child problems, and whether these relations are mediated by harsh, lax, and positive parenting. Mothers' and fathers' attributions and parenting were examined separately. A community sample of 148 couples and their 9- to 12-year-old child (50% boys) participated in the study. Mothers and children participated by completing questionnaires and a laboratory interaction task. Fathers participated by completing the same questionnaires as mothers. Harsh parenting was the only parenting variable that uniquely mediated the relations between more child-responsibility attributions for (a) negative child behaviors and child problems for both parents and (b) the inverse relation between attributions for positive child behaviors and child problems for fathers. Findings confirm the importance of harsh parenting and demonstrate the importance of parents' attributions for positive child behaviors in relation to decreasing harsh parenting and child problems. Clinically, it may be useful not only to reduce child-responsibility attributions for negative behaviors but also to increase the extent to which parents give their child credit for positive behaviors.

The Relations Among Stress, Executive Functions, and Harsh Parenting in Mothers

“…Next, bivariate associations among the main study variables, as well as with potential covariates were examined (Table 3). Replicating numerous previous findings and supporting the validity of these measures in this sample, mothers' reports of harsh parenting behaviours were significantly associated with more child behaviour problems and greater maternal psychological symptoms (e.g., Lovejoy et al, 2000;Park, Johnston, Colalillo, & Williamson, 2016).…”

“…Ratings were made on a 10-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 10 = strongly agree). As in previous research (e.g., Park et al, 2016), scores across all nine vignettes and six attributional dimensions were averaged to create a composite score for attributions for child misbehaviours, with higher scores indicating more child-blaming attributions. Previous research has established the validity of these vignettes and attribution ratings by demonstrating significant correlations with observed parenting behaviour and child behaviour problems (Johnston et al, 2009) and showing that child-blaming attributions produced through these vignettes are relatively congruent with attributions that mothers reported in response to open-ended questions (Johnston, Reynolds, Freeman, & Geller, 1998).…”

Parental attributions for positive behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorder

“…Consistent with findings on the general population (e.g. Park et al 2016), parents who viewed the positive behaviour of their child with ASD as due to factors more internal to the child, stable and controllable by the child were hypothesised to report a higher level of positive affect, lower level of negative affect and closer parent-child relationship. Parents with lower (rather than higher) education, parents of children with a higher (rather than lower) impairment (i.e.…”

The relationships among parental psychological control/autonomy support, self‐trouble, and internalizing problems across adolescent genders

“…However, it has to be acknowledged that much of what we know about parenting behaviors in relation to adolescents’ adjustment problems comes from samples in the US (El‐Sheikh, Hinnant, Kelly & Erath, ), Canada (Park, Johnston, Colalillo & Williamson, ), or Europe (Symeou & Georgiou, ). This actually raises a critical issue, that is, whether the findings demonstrated in Western societies can be generalized to a wider population such as Eastern culture.…”