Mothers' beliefs about the causes of infant growth deficiency: is there attributional bias?
Tested for defensive attributional bias in mothers' causal explanations for infant (2-12.5 months) growth deficiency. Mothers of healthy babies (controls; n = 82), growth deficient babies without medical problems (n = 27) and growth deficient babies with mild medical problems (n = 22) rated their levels of agreement with 23 causes of growth problems which were designed to vary in the degree of personal threat to parenting self-esteem. Ratings were completed for the mother's (Own) baby and for a nonspecific (Other) baby. Findings partially support a theory of defensive attributional bias, with higher agreement when causes referred to Other (vs. Own) baby, and lower agreement with family-related than with medical/nutritional causes. Factors that may have influenced material experience of threat and implications of the findings for clinical practice are discussed.
Sturm
L A
LA
Riley Child Development Center, Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-5225, USA.
Drotar
D
D
Laing
K
K
Zimet
G D
GD
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012647:Self-Assessment