Causal attribution and coping with parental dominance and deprecation in youth with mild intellectual disability

Although interactions among parents and Youth with Mild Intellectual Disability (MID) may be stressful at times, most studies focus on the effects of stressful interactions on the parents. This study considers the Youth's perspective - particularly their beliefs about the reason for the parent's actions as well as how they would respond in the situation. The RA-PD test (American Psychologist, 28, 2015, 107) was administered to 151 transition age youth with MID in Poland. The test includes vignettes that describe common situations in which the parent engages in Domination or Deprecation. The participants coping responses, based on a multi-axial approach developed by Hobfoll (Stress, culture, and community. The psychology and philosophy of stress, 1998, Springer, New York, NY), and attributions toward the parental figure in the scenarios, based on Kelley (American Psychologist, 28, 2015, 107), were coded by judges. Correlations between causal attribution and coping response showed a consistent pattern where positive attributions were associated with prosocial coping and negative attributions were significantly related to antisocial coping. The implications for improving coping, especially for Youth with aggressive and passive tendencies, are discussed.