mothers' and fathers' negative responsibility attributions and perceptions of...

Personal Relationships, 20 (2013), 719–727. Printed in the United States of America.Copyright © 2013 IARR; DOI: 10.1111/pere.12010

Mothers’ and fathers’ negative responsibilityattributions and perceptions of children’s problembehavior

JACKIE A. NELSON,a MARION O’BRIEN,b SUSAN D. CALKINS,b

AND SUSAN P. KEANEb

aUniversity of Texas at Dallas and bUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro

AbstractParents’ negative responsibility attributions about their child’s misbehavior are related to a perception that the childhas more behavior problems. This study used a dyadic framework to explore how mothers’ and fathers’ attributionsrelate to their own perceptions and to their partner’s perceptions of the child’s externalizing problems. Participantsincluded 102 couples interviewed when children were 7 years old. Results confirmed that mothers reported moreexternalizing behavior problems in their children than did fathers, and fathers of boys reported more child behaviorproblems than fathers of girls. Dyadic analyses suggested that parents’ negative responsibility attributions of thechild’s behavior were associated with greater perceptions of child externalizing problems on behalf of parents andtheir partners.

Attributions, or interpretations of behavior,provide individuals with a way to makesense of their environments (Heider, 1958).With the ever-changing demands of parent-ing, parental attributions of children’s behav-ior are commonly utilized to interpret andunderstand children’s actions in a broadrange of situations. These beliefs are impor-tant to understand as they have been shownto be associated with parents’ responses totheir children (Daggett, O’Brien, Zanolli,& Peyton, 2000), children’s beliefs about

Jackie A. Nelson, School of Behavioral and Brain Sci-ences, University of Texas at Dallas; Marion O’Brienand Susan D. Calkins, Department of Human Develop-ment and Family Studies, University of North Carolina atGreensboro; Susan P. Keane, Department of Psychology,University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

This research was supported by a National Instituteof Mental Health award (MH 58144). An earlier versionof this project was presented at the 2011 biennial meetingof the Society for Research in Child Development inMontreal, Quebec. The authors would like to thank theproject staff and the families who generously gave theirtime to participate in the study.

Correspondence should be addressed to Jackie A.Nelson, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences,University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. CampbellRoad GR41, Richardson, TX 75080, e-mail:[email protected].

themselves (Azar, Siegel, & Cote, 1993), andchildren’s subsequent behavior (Nix et al.,1999; Slep & O’Leary, 1998).

The constructivist perspective on parentalbeliefs suggests that individuals create abelief system through their personal experi-ences (McGillicuddy-DeLisi & Sigel, 1995).Parents’ experience being parented along withthe amount and quality of their experiencewith children influence the interpretations andresponses parents have to children’s behavior(Bugental & Shennum, 1984). Many parentsdevelop an attribution style that preservesa positive view of their child, describingmisbehaviors as situation specific and outsidethe child’s control (Dix, 1991; Gretarsson& Gelfand, 1988). The opposite view, thatmisbehaviors are controllable, intentional,and stable, characterizes a negative attri-bution style (Bugental, Blue, & Lewis,1990; Dix, 1991; Larrance & Twentyman,1983; MacKinnon-Lewis, Lamb, Arbuckle,Baradaran, & Volling, 1992).

Negative attributions regarding individu-als’ responsibility or accountability for theirbehaviors may be particularly relevant to theparenting context. Responsibility attributions

719

720 J. A. Nelson et al.

have been shown to be more directly related tobehavioral responses compared to attributionsof the cause or reason behind others’ behavior(Bradbury & Fincham, 1990; Fincham, 1994;Graham & Hoehn, 1995; VanOostrum & Hor-vath, 1997; Willis & Foster, 1990). Addition-ally, responsibility attributions are more likelyto be associated with emotional arousal, con-flict, and anger (Weiner, 1985). Parenting isan emotional experience (Dix, 1991), and thebelief that children misbehave intentionallywith a selfish motivation to annoy the parentis likely to increase parents’ emotional arousaland color parents’ perceptions of the child’sbehavior.

One commonly studied example of the linkbetween attributions and perceptions of childbehavior in the parenting context is the cor-relation among parents’ negative attributionsand children’s normative behavior problems.In one study, mothers who reported nega-tive attributions regarding their school-agedchild’s misbehavior were also more likely toreport that their child displayed more conductproblems (Baden & Howe, 1992). An experi-mental manipulation of maternal responsibil-ity attributions for her child’s misbehaviorconcluded that when experimenters changedthe attribution provided to mothers, the moth-ers’ affect, her behavior, and the child’s affectsignificantly changed (Slep & O’Leary, 1998),suggesting that mothers’ and children’s emo-tions are somewhat dependent on maternalattributions. Bugental and Shennum (1984)suggest that this association is not limited toparents and their own children. The authorsfound that even when mothers with negativeattribution styles interacted with children theydid not know, they tended to behave in waysthat enhanced negative interactions and non-compliance.

Parent cognitions

This study examines parents’ subjective per-ceptions of problem behavior as a reflectionof their cognitive processes. The idea thatparental cognitions color how parents viewsituations with their children is well estab-lished. A negative cognitive framework iscommonly regarded as a condition that causes

parents to have an overall negative outlookon life and interpret situations and interac-tions with others as adverse (Bouhuys, Geerts,& Mersch, 1997; Gollan, Pane, McCloskey,& Coccaro, 2008; Matt, Vazquez, & Camp-bell, 1992). A negative framework has beenrelated to more negative perceptions of chil-dren’s behavior problems and to the extentto which mothers’ and fathers’ perceptionsare in agreement with their partner (Johnston,1991). Negative attributions create a similarbias toward overly perceiving negativity inothers’ behavior. Mothers who were told thattheir child misbehaved voluntarily in a manip-ulated experiment reported feeling angrier andmore reactive than mothers who were toldtheir child was not to blame for misbehaving(Slep & O’Leary, 1998).

Understanding how cognitions, such asnegative responsibility attributions, relateto parent perceptions of problem behav-ior is important considering the field’sheavy reliance on parent-report measures inresearch. The parent-report Child BehaviorChecklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991) hasbeen widely used within the United Statesand across 24 societies around the world(Rescorla et al., 2011) to operationalizechildren’s externalizing behavior problems.Discrepancies in CBCL reports betweenfamily members have been found to be com-mon and predicted by individual and familyfunctioning (De Los Reyes & Kazdin, 2006).Researchers can better understand reasonsbehind certain viewpoints or account forfactors influencing their research results whenthey are aware of how the reporter interpretsthe child’s behavior and the effect negativeattributions may have on parents’ perceptions.

Influence of the partner

Aside from relating to one’s own perceptions,parents’ cognitions are also likely relatedto their spouse’s perceptions. Close dyadicrelationships, such as a marriage, are char-acterized by the mutual exchange of cog-nitions, emotions, and behaviors (Campbell& Kashy, 2002); therefore, a parent’s attri-butions and perceptions are best understoodin the context of his or her interdependent

Attributions and problem behavior 721

partner. Unfortunately, little research on par-ent attributions has included fathers, and theresults are mixed as to whether mothersand fathers typically differ in their attribu-tions for their children’s misbehavior. Forexample, Mills and Rubin (1990) found noattribution differences between parents in theirstudy of preschool-aged children, whereasChen, Seipp, and Johnston (2008) found thatmothers made more negative attributions fortheir school-aged children’s inattentive andimpulsive behavior than fathers. Findings onparents’ perceptions of children’s problembehavior are also complex, as a moderate tohigh correspondence has been found betweenmothers’ and fathers’ reports of externalizingbehavior on the CBCL (Duhig, Renk, Epstein,& Phares, 2000), with mothers reporting ahigher severity level in symptoms than fathers(Schroeder, Hood, & Hughes, 2010).

Although we are interested in examiningmean differences in mothers’ and fathers’attributions and perceptions, the primary goalof the current study concerns how moth-ers’ and fathers’ beliefs are associated withone another. We are interested in whetherone parent’s attributions are related to theother parent’s perceptions, or what have beentermed crossover effects . Crossover effects,in addition to spillover effects that occurwhen a parent’s attributions relate to his orher own perceptions, are commonly found inresearch on the family system (e.g., Erel &Burman, 1995; Nelson, O’Brien, Blankson,Calkins, & Keane, 2009). The examinationof spillover and crossover effects for moth-ers’ and fathers’ negative responsibility attri-butions and perceptions of children’s prob-lem behavior has not been explored previ-ously, but considering reported links betweenattributions and perceptions (Slep & O’Leary,1998) and the likelihood that interdependentpartners will influence each other’s cognitions(Campbell & Kashy, 2002), both spillover andcrossover effects are probable. Spillover andcrossover effects are important to understand,as the relevance of a partner’s negative per-ceptions are rarely investigated or accountedfor in studies utilizing parent reports of childbehavior.

Child sex

A final goal of the current study is to examinechild sex. Sex is a salient child characteris-tic that is known to affect a child’s role inthe family and interactions with parents (Mac-coby, 2003). A number of studies have shownthat parents make different attributions forboys’ versus girls’ behavior (e.g., Maniadaki,Sonuga-Barke, & Kakouros, 2005; Parsons,Adler, & Kaczala, 1982; Yee & Eccles, 1988).One study found that parents believe that thecause of girls’ misbehavior is more dispo-sitional than boys’ (Gretarsson & Gelfand,1988), and another found that parents per-ceived boys’ misbehavior to be more inten-tional than girls’ (Maniadaki et al., 2005).Similarly, parents’ perceptions of children’sexternalizing behavior have also been shownto differ for boys and girls, with parentstypically reporting more externalizing symp-toms among boys (Baillargeon et al., 2007;Rescorla et al., 2007).

This study

In this study, we explored mothers’ andfathers’ negative responsibility attributionsfor their school-aged child’s minor misbe-haviors and their perceptions of the child’sexternalizing behavior. We examined whetherparents’ negative responsibility attributionswere associated with their own perceptions,and their partner’s perceptions, of externaliz-ing behavior while also exploring the effectsof parent sex, child sex, and the interactionbetween the two. Although this researchquestion has not been examined previously,past findings lead us to predict that (a) moth-ers will make more negative responsibilityattributions and perceive more externalizingproblems than fathers, (b) both parentswill make more negative responsibilityattributions and perceive more externalizingproblems for boys than girls, (c) mothers’and fathers’ attributions will relate to eachother’s perceptions, and (d) for both parents,negative responsibility attributions will beassociated with more negative perceptionsof problem behavior. No specific hypotheseswere made regarding whether spillover or


crossover effects will depend on parent sexor child sex, or if three-way interactionsbetween parent sex, child sex, and parentattributions will emerge in predicting parents’perceptions of problem behavior.

Method

Participants

The participants in this study were a sub-sample of children taking part in an ongoinglongitudinal study of 447 families. Childrenand families were recruited through child daycare centers, the County Health Department,and the local Women, Infants, and Children(WIC) program in the Southeastern region ofthe United States. Of the 293 children whosefathers actively participated in the study,242 families (83%) participated at 7 yearsof age, when the data for the present studywere collected. There were no significant dif-ferences between families who participatedand those lost to attrition in terms of childsex, χ2(1, N = 269) = .95, p = .33; ethnicity,χ2(3, N = 269) = 1.42, p = .70; or socio-economic status, t(255) = .53, p = .60.

Only two-parent families in which bothparents reported on their attributions wereincluded in the present analyses (n = 102 cou-ples). Included families were more likely to beEuropean American, χ2(1, N = 293) = 11.92,p < .01, and had a higher socioeconomic sta-tus, t(278) = −3.70, p < .01, than excludedfamilies (n = 191). In the final sample, 48%of the children were female, 81% were Euro-pean American, 13% were African American,and 6% were of multiple or other ethnicities.The median education level for mothers andfathers was a college degree; 9% of mothersand 10% of fathers were high school gradu-ates, 49% of mothers and 41% of fathers had acollege degree, and 20% of mothers and 15%of fathers held advanced degrees.

Procedure

When children were 7 years of age, theycame to the study site for two visits, duringwhich children participated in various tasksand mothers completed questionnaires andwere observed in interaction with the children.

At the completion of the second visit, motherswith partners living in the home were givena packet of questionnaires for the partnerto complete. Questionnaire data from bothmothers and fathers are used in this report.

Measures

Demographics

Mothers completed questionnaires to pro-vide demographic information, such as child’ssex and ethnicity, parent marital status, andincome and education for each parent.

Negative attributions

Mothers and fathers reported on the neg-ative responsibility attributions they makeregarding their child’s mild misbehaviors withthe Attributional Style Measure for Parents(ASMP; O’Brien & Peyton, 2002). Parentswere asked to think of two recent situationsin which “your child didn’t do something youwanted done (such as picking up toys andclothes) even after you asked several times.”Parents were then asked to indicate the extentto which they agreed on a 6-point scale withfour statements regarding the child’s inten-tion and motivation in the situation (e.g., “Mychild didn’t do what I asked on purpose ratherthan unintentionally,” and “My child didn’t dowhat I asked mainly just to annoy me”). Neg-ative responsibility attributions include beliefsthat the child misbehaves on purpose with aselfish motivation, that the child intends toannoy the parent, and that the child should bepunished for that behavior. Mean scores wereused in analyses, with higher scores indicat-ing more negative responsibility attributions.Internal reliability (Cronbach’s α) was .82 formothers and .77 for fathers.

Child behavior problems

Mothers and fathers reported on their per-ceptions of the child’s behavior problemsusing the CBCL (Achenbach, 1991). Par-ents responded to 113 items indicating howwell a range of internalizing and exter-nalizing behavioral problems describes thechild currently or within the last 6 months(0 = not true, 1 = somewhat or sometimes


true, 2 = very true or often true). The Cross-Informant Program for the CBCL/4–18, pur-chased from the CBCL, University MedicalEducation Associates, Inc., was used to scorethe raw data. A sum of the 35 items assessingthe child’s externalizing problems was used inthe current analyses. Internal reliability scores(Cronbach’s α) for the externalizing subscalewere .87 for mothers and .80 for fathers.

Results

Preliminary results

Descriptive information about mothers’ andfathers’ attributions and reports of problembehavior can be seen in Table 1, alongwith correlations among the study variables.Notably, all variables were correlated with theexception of maternal attributions with pater-nal perceptions of problem behavior. Chil-dren’s externalizing problem behaviors wereconsidered mild on average, although exam-ination of the T scores confirmed that four(4%) children according to mothers and one(1.1%) according to fathers were rated aboveclinically relevant levels. Parent education andchild ethnicity and age in months were exam-ined as possible covariates. None of thesedemographic factors was related to both attri-butions and externalizing problems; therefore,they were not included in analyses.

Sex differences

Paired samples t tests showed that moth-ers reported significantly more externalizingproblems than fathers, t(97) = 4.29, p < .01.There were no significant differences betweenmothers’ and fathers’ reports of attributions.

Although mothers’ reports of child external-izing problems did not differ for boys ver-sus girls, fathers’ reports did differ based onchild sex, t(96) = −2.02, p < .05. Fathers ofgirls reported significantly fewer externaliz-ing problems than fathers of boys. Neithermothers’ nor fathers’ negative responsibilityattributions differed for boys versus girls.

Relations between attributions andperceptions of problem behavior

The relations between parents’ negativeresponsibility attributions and perceptionsof their children’s behavior problems wereexamined using a multilevel modelingapproach, termed the actor–partner interde-pendence model (APIM; Kashy & Kenny,2000) that accounts for the interdependencein dyadic data. To examine moderation byparent and child sex, we entered two-wayand three-way interaction terms in the model.

We examined how the reports of one part-ner related both to his or her own perceptionsof problem behavior and to the perceptionsof his or her spouse. Using the APIM, theserelations are referred to as actor and partnereffects. Actor effects occur when a parent’sown attributions are associated with his or herperceptions of the child’s behavior problems.Partner effects occur when one parent’s attri-butions are associated with the other parent’sperceptions of the child’s behavior problems.We used the Mixed Model Analysis functionin SPSS v.19 to run the models. Variableswere centered prior to analyses.

We addressed whether parents’ negativeresponsibility attributions were related to per-ceptions of the child’s externalizing problembehavior. Results are shown in Table 2. We

Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlations between study variables

Variable M (SD) Range 2 3 4

1. Attributions,a mother 2.58 (.87) 1–4.38 .21* .45** .162. Attributions, father 2.56 (.81) 1–4.63 .36** .34**3. Externalizing,b mother 6.36 (5.30) 0–24 .46**4. Externalizing, father 4.30 (3.93) 0–20

aNegative responsibility attributions. bPerceptions of children’s externalizing behavior.*p < .05. **p < .01.


Table 2. Parents’ responsibility attributionspredicting perceptions of child’s externalizingproblems

Externalizing problems

Variable b β

Parent sex −1.14 – .24**Child sex .23 .05Attributions actor 1.90 .33**Attributions partner 1.11 .19**Attributions

Actor × Parent Sex– .43 – .07

AttributionsPartner × ParentSex

– .68 – .12

AttributionsActor × Child Sex

.07 .01

AttributionsPartner × ChildSex

– .50 – .09

Parent Sex × ChildSex

.40 .08

AttributionsActor × ParentSex × Child Sex

.38 .07

AttributionsPartner × ParentSex × child sex

.09 .02

−2 restricted loglikelihood

1,109.53

**p < .01.

found a significant effect for parent sex; moth-ers reported more externalizing problems intheir children than fathers reported. A signifi-cant actor effect for attributions indicated thatboth mothers and fathers who held more neg-ative attributions regarding their child’s mis-behaviors reported that that their children hadmore externalizing behavior problems. A sig-nificant partner effect indicated that mothers’and fathers’ negative attributions were asso-ciated with their partner’s perceptions of thechild’s behavior problems. There were no sig-nificant interactions between attributions andparent sex or child sex indicating that the actorand partner main effects applied to all parentsand children, regardless of gender.

Discussion

In this study, we used a dyadic approachto examine parent cognitions and the extentto which negative attributions in the familymay affect how both parents view a child’sbehavior. Specifically, we explored how neg-ative responsibility attributions, which referto a negatively biased way of describing howresponsible a child is for mild misbehavior,are associated with parents’ perceptions oftheir child’s externalizing behavior problems.The dyadic approach allowed us to test therelation between the parent’s own attributionsand those of his or her partner to perceptionsof problem behaviors.

Our findings, using a dyadic analyticapproach that allowed us to model the asso-ciation between parents’ interdependent cog-nitions and perceptions, provide evidence ofspillover from parents’ negative responsibil-ity attributions to their own perceptions of thechild’s problem behavior. When children were7 years old, both mothers and fathers whomade more negative attributions also reportedtheir children to have more externalizingproblems. Negative attributions represent abias that parents have in that they believe theirchild’s everyday minor misbehaviors, suchas interrupting or failing to clean up one’sroom, are selfish, intentional, and maliciousacts that deserve punishment. Although somemisbehavior may be intentional by age 7, anegative bias means that even accidents andunintentional acts are perceived by the par-ent to be deliberate and intended to annoy theparent. Our results indicate that parents whointerpret a wide range of behaviors this neg-atively are also more likely to report higherfrequency and intensity of children’s external-izing problem behaviors. Cognitive psycholo-gists refer to this as a confirmation bias , whenan individual is cognizant only of informationthat confirms his or her existing beliefs andignores contradicting information (Nickerson,1998). Parents with a negative attribution biasare likely to interpret many commonplace sit-uations as confirmation of their belief thattheir child behaves aggressively.

In addition to within-parent associations,we used the APIM approach to determine


whether cognitions cross over to the part-ner’s perceptions. We found that when parentsmade negative attributions, their partners alsoperceived their child to have more behaviorproblems. This was the case for both moth-ers and fathers, a finding that is explainedby previous work. Fathers have been shownto rely on mothers’ perceptions of familyrelationships when reporting on their chil-dren (Parke, 2002), and mothers have beendescribed as particularly in tune with the emo-tional functioning of their families (Erickson,2005) and likely to ruminate about child prob-lems (Hechler et al., 2011). Both parents seemto pay attention to and rely on informationfrom their spouses when asked to estimatechildren’s behavior. This finding has impor-tant implications for the many researchers andpractitioners that rely on parents’ reports tomeasure child behavior problems. Both moth-ers’ and fathers’ beliefs and interpretationsabout their children should be examined, aseach parent appears to play a role in suchreports.

Our initial research questions also focusedon parent and child sex, as prior researchhas found sex differences in attributions andreports of problem behavior. Contrary to ourprediction, mothers and fathers did not differin their negative responsibility attributionsbut instead held similar ideas regarding theirchild’s intentions and motivations for minormisbehaviors. Most couples had parentedtogether for at least 7 years, making it easyto see how mothers’ and fathers’ parentingbeliefs would be similar to each other.Although we cannot test this in the currentsample, it is of interest to investigate whetherparents’ attributions become more similarover extended periods of time, whetherindividuals choose partners with similar cog-nitions as their own, or a combination of thetwo. Mothers did report more externalizingproblems than fathers reported. It is possiblethat mothers spend more time with childrenin more varied situations than fathers, partic-ularly when children are still fairly young. Itis also possible that mothers are more likelyto serve as the contact for teachers and after-school care providers than fathers, providingthem with more information about the child’s

misbehaviors. This finding is consistent withprevious research suggesting that mothersreport more severe behavior problems thanfathers (Schroeder et al., 2010).

Despite previous findings of child sexeffects (Maniadaki et al., 2005), parents inthe current study did not indicate that theyheld different attributions for boys versusgirls. Both mothers and fathers believed theirdaughters were just as responsible for andintentional about their misbehaviors as sons.Mothers of girls also reported just as manychild behavior problems as mothers of boys;however, fathers’ reports were consistent withprior research that parents tend to reportmore externalizing behaviors for sons thandaughters (Baillargeon et al., 2007).

It has been suggested that parents developan attribution style that they use to make senseof their interactions with their children (Dix,1991). This style is thought to have devel-oped over time based, in part, on experiencesin the family of origin (Bugental & Shennum,1984; McGillicuddy-DeLisi & Sigel, 1995).However, we cannot decipher directionalityin the current study. It is also possible thatinteractions with an aggressive child shapeparents’ attributions about that child’s behav-ior. Parents who perceive their children to bemore difficult to care for may believe thatthe child’s misbehavior is intentional and pur-poseful (Dix & Grusec, 1985).

There are some limitations of this study.First, the study uses data from one periodof time during middle childhood and maynot apply to parents of preschool or adoles-cent children. Similarly, this cross-sectionalstudy cannot make causal claims regardingthe directionality of effects. Future researchshould incorporate longitudinal data to exam-ine changes in perceptions over time. Sec-ond, the sample of ethnic minority familieswas too small (n = 19) to examine ethnic dif-ferences. This is an important direction forfuture research, as ethnic differences in par-ents’ attributions about their children’s prob-lem behaviors have been documented (Jacobset al., 2008). Finally, these associations likelyvary for parents with different family struc-tures, such as single parents or parents livingin extended family households. Whereas all


family members are expected to influence oneanother’s perceptions of the child’s behavior,the extent of this influence can greatly varydepending on the amount of contact and close-ness in the relationship.

This article provides a unique look at theinterdependent nature of mothers’ and fathers’interpretations and perceptions of their child’smisbehaviors. It is important to understandhow a negative perception from either par-ent may be associated with parental viewsof the child, as parent-reported questionnairesare often used to measure children’s behav-ior problems. Such an understanding canalso increase the effectiveness of clinicaltreatments with distressed families, includingcognitive therapy and reframing. Moreover,negative perceptions can influence parents’health (Petrie, Jago, & Devcich, 2007), whichhas subsequent implications for child andfamily well-being. Future research shouldcontinue to explore contextual factors thatexplain parents’ perceptions of their chil-dren’s behaviors, and how responsibility attri-butions are related to parenting behaviors andthe quality of parent–child relationships.

References

Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the Child BehaviorChecklist/4–18 and 1991 profile. Burlington: Univer-sity of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.

Azar, S. T., Siegel, B. R., & Cote, L. R. (1993). The rela-tionship between parents’ and children’s attributionsfor academic success and failure. Paper presented atthe annual meeting of the Eastern Psychology Asso-ciation, Washington, DC.

Baden, A. D., & Howe, G. W. (1992). Mothers’attributions and expectancies regarding their conduct-disordered children. Journal of Abnormal ChildPsychology, 20 , 467–485.

Baillargeon, R. H., Zoccolillo, M., Keenna, K., Cote,S., Perusse, D., Wu, H.-X., . . . Tremblay, R. E.(2007). Gender differences in physical aggression:A prospective population-based survey of childrenbefore and after two years of age. DevelopmentalPsychology , 43 , 13–26.

Bouhuys, A. L., Geerts, E., & Mersch, P. P. A. (1997).Relationship between perception of facial emotionsand anxiety in clinical depression: Does anxiety-related perception predict persistence of depression?Journal of Affective Disorders , 43 , 213–223.

Bradbury, T. N., & Fincham, F. D. (1990). Attributionsin marriage: Review and critique. Psychological Bul-letin , 107 , 3–33.

Bugental, D. B., Blue, J., & Lewis, J. (1990). Caregivercognitions as moderators of affective reactions to“difficult” children. Developmental Psychology , 26 ,631–638.

Bugental, D. B., & Shennum, W. A. (1984). “Difficult”children as elicitors and targets of adult communica-tion patterns: An attributional-behavioral transactionalanalysis. Monographs of the Society for Research inChild Development , 49 , 1–81.

Campbell, L., & Kashy, D. A. (2002). Estimating actor,partner, and interaction effects for dyadic data usingPROC MIXED and HLM: A user-friendly guide.Personal Relationships , 9 , 327–342.

Chen, M., Seipp, C. M., & Johnston, C. (2008). Moth-ers’ and fathers’ attributions and beliefs in familiesof girls and boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivitydisorder. Child Psychiatry and Human Development ,39 , 85–99.

Daggett, J., O’Brien, M., Zanolli, K., & Peyton, V.(2000). Parents’ attitudes about children: Associationswith parental life histories and child-rearing quality.Journal of Family Psychology , 14 , 187–199.

De Los Reyes, A., & Kazdin, A. E. (2006). Informantdiscrepancies in assessing child dysfunction relateto dysfunction within the mother-child interactions.Journal of Child and Family Studies , 15 , 645–663.

Dix, T. H. (1991). The affective organization of parenting:Adaptive and maladaptive processes. PsychologicalBulletin , 110 , 3–15.

Dix, T. H., & Grusec, J. E. (1985). Parental attributionprocesses in child socialization. In I. E. Sigel (Ed.),Parental belief systems: Their psychological conse-quences for children (pp. 201–233). Hillsdale, NJ:Erlbaum.

Duhig, A. M., Renk, K., Epstein, M. K., & Phares,V. (2000). Interparental agreement on internalizing,externalizing, and total behavior problems: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice,7 , 435–453.

Erel, O., & Burman, B. (1995). Interrelatedness of maritalrelations and parent-child relations: A meta-analyticreview. Psychological Bulletin , 118 , 108.

Erickson, R. J. (2005). Why emotion work matters: Sex,gender, and the division of household labor. Journalof Marriage and the Family , 67 , 337–351.

Fincham, F. D. (1994). Understanding the associa-tion between marital conflict and child maladjust-ment: Overview. Journal of Family Psychology , 8 ,125–127.

Gollan, J. K., Pane, H. T., McCloskey, M. S., & Coc-caro, E. F. (2008). Identifying differences in biasedaffective information processing in major depression.Psychiatry Research , 159 , 18–24.

Graham, S., & Hoehn, S. (1995). Children’s understand-ing of aggression and withdrawal as social stigmas:An attributional analysis. Child Development , 66 ,1143–1161.

Gretarsson, S. J., & Gelfand, D. M. (1988). Mothers’attributions regarding their children’s social behaviorand personality characteristics. Developmental Psy-chology , 24 , 264–269.


Hechler, T., Vervoort, T., Hamann, M., Tietze, A., Vocks,S., Goubert, L., . . . Zernikow, B. (2011). Parentalcatastrophizing about their child’s chronic pain: Aremothers and fathers different? European Journal ofPain , 15 , 1–9.

Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal rela-tions . New York, NY: Wiley.

Jacobs, R. H., Klein, J. B., Reinecke, M. A., Silva, S.G., Tonev, S., Breland-Noble, A., . . . March, J. S.(2008). Ethnic differences in attributions and treat-ment expectancies for adolescent depression. Inter-national Journal of Cognitive Therapy , 1 , 163–178.

Johnston, C. (1991). Predicting mothers’ and fathers’perceptions of child behaviour problems. CanadianJournal of Behavioural Science, 23 , 349–357.

Kashy, D. A., & Kenny, D. A. (2000). The analysis ofdata from dyads and groups. In H. T. Reis & C.M. Judd (Eds.), Handbook of research methods insocial psychology (pp. 451–477). Cambridge, Eng-land: Cambridge University Press.

Larrance, D. T., & Twentyman, C. T. (1983). Maternalattributions and child abuse. Journal of AbnormalPsychology , 92 , 449–457.

Maccoby, E. E. (2003). The gender of the child andparent as factors in family dynamics. In A. C. Crouter& A. Booth (Eds.), Children’s influence on familydynamics: The neglected side of family relationships(pp. 191–206). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

MacKinnon-Lewis, C., Lamb, M. E., Arbuckle, B.,Baradaran, L. P., & Volling, B. L. (1992). The rela-tionship between biased maternal and filial attribu-tions and the aggressiveness of their interactions.Development and Psychopathology , 4 , 403–415.

Maniadaki, K., Sonuga-Barke, E., & Kakouros, E.(2005). Parents’ causal attributions about attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder: The effect of child andparent sex. Child: Care, Health and Development , 31 ,331–340.

Matt, G. E., Vazquez, C., & Campbell, K. W. (1992).Mood congruent recall of affectively toned stimuli:A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review ,12 , 227–255.

McGillicuddy-DeLisi, A. V., & Sigel, I. E. (1995).Parental beliefs. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbookof parenting: Status and social conditions of parenting(Vol. 3, pp. 333–358). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Mills, R. S. L., & Rubin, K. H. (1990). Parental beliefsabout problematic social behaviors in early childhood.Child Development , 61 , 138–151.

Nelson, J. A., O’Brien, M., Blankson, A. N., Calkins, S.D., & Keane, S. P. (2009). Family stress and parentalresponses to children’s negative emotions: Tests of thespillover, crossover, and compensatory hypotheses.Journal of Family Psychology , 23 , 671–679.

Nickerson, R. (1998). Confirmation bias: A ubiquitousphenomenon in many guises. Review of GeneralPsychology , 2 , 175–220.

Nix, R. L., Pinderhughes, E. E., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J.E., Pettit, G. S., & McFayden-Ketchum, S. A. (1999).The relation between mothers’ hostile attribution ten-dencies and children’s externalizing behaviour prob-lems: The mediating role of mothers’ harsh disciplinepractices. Child Development , 70 , 896–909.

O’Brien, M., & Peyton, V. (2002). Parenting attitudes andmarital intimacy: A longitudinal analysis. Journal ofFamily Psychology , 16 , 118–127.

Parke, R. D. (2002). Fathers and families. In M. H.Bornstein (Ed.), The handbook of parenting: Beingand becoming a parent (Vol. 3, 2nd ed., pp. 27–73).Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Parsons, J. E., Adler, T., & Kaczala, C. (1982). Social-ization of achievement attitudes and beliefs: Parentalinfluences. Child Development , 53 , 310–321.

Petrie, K. J., Jago, L. A., & Devcich, D. A. (2007).The role of illness perceptions in patients with med-ical conditions. Current Opinion in Psychiatry , 20 ,163–167.

Rescorla, L. A., Achenbach, T. M., Ivanova, M. Y.,Dumenci, L., Almqvist, F., Bilenberg, N., . . .Leung, P. (2007). Behavioral and emotional problemsreported by parents of children ages 6 to 16 in31 societies. Journal of Emotional and BehavioralDisorders , 15 , 130–142.

Rescorla, L. A., Achenbach, T. M., Ivanova, M. Y.,Harder, V. S., Otten, L., Bilenberg, N., . . . Verhulst, F.(2011). International comparisons of behavioral andemotional problems in preschool children: Parents’reports from 24 societies. Journal of Clinical Childand Adolescent Psychology , 40 , 456–467.

Schroeder, J. F., Hood, M. M., & Hughes, H. M. (2010).Inter-parent agreement on the syndrome scales of theChild Behavior Checklist (CBCL): Correspondenceand discrepancies. Journal of Child and Family Stud-ies , 19 , 646–653.

Slep, A. M., & O’Leary, S. G. (1998). The effectsof maternal attributions on parenting: An experi-mental analysis. Journal of Family Psychology , 12 ,234–243.

VanOostrum, N., & Horvath, P. (1997). The effectsof hostile attribution on adolescents’ aggressiveresponses to social situations. Canadian Journal ofSchool Psychology , 13 , 48–59.

Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievementmotivation and emotion. Psychological Review , 29 ,548–573.

Willis, L. M., & Foster, S. L. (1990). Differences inchildren’s peer sociometric and attribution ratings dueto context and type of aggressive behavior. Journalof Abnormal Child Psychology , 18 , 199–215.

Yee, D. K., & Eccles, J. S. (1988). Parent perceptionsand attributions for children’s math achievement. SexRoles , 19 , 317–333.

mothers' and fathers' negative responsibility attributions and perceptions of...

Documents