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Parent and child causal attributions during clinical interviews
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
|March 1, 1982
Summary
Parents attribute child clinical problems to child characteristics more than children do. Interview format influences these attributions, with differences disappearing when families are interviewed together.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Understanding how children and parents attribute causality to child clinical problems is crucial for effective intervention.
- Previous research using questionnaires indicated parental attributions focus more on child characteristics compared to children's attributions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate attributions for child clinical problems by children and parents during assessment interviews.
- To examine how interview format influences these attributions.
Main Methods:
- Assessment interviews were conducted with children and their parents to monitor attributions for the child's clinical problem.
- Interview formats varied, including individual interviews and joint family interviews.
Main Results:
- Parental attributions for child clinical problems predominantly focused on child characteristics, aligning with prior questionnaire-based findings.
- Differences in attributional locus between parents and children emerged in individual interviews but were absent in joint family interviews.
Conclusions:
- Interview methodology significantly impacts attributional patterns in child-clinical populations.
- Findings suggest that joint family interviews may yield more congruent attributional perspectives between parents and children.