title: Asian-Indian parents' attributions about the causes of child behavior: a replication and extension with parents from Chennai, India.
abstract: Using hypothetical vignettes, 152 parents of children 10-17 years old living in Chennai, India, made attributions about whether the origins of 2 positive and 2 negative behaviors performed by their own child or another child were due to the child's personality or the situation, or to parenting or nonparenting influences based on the frequency, intensity, and cross-situational consistency of the behavior. Parents attributed the positive behaviors of all children to the personality of the child and to parenting. Parents attributed negative behavior of their own children to situational influences and nonparenting effects, but attributed the negative behavior of other children to their personality and to parenting, a pattern that enhances and reinforces parent self-esteem. Results were discussed in terms of the self-serving bias and the actor-observer bias, cognitive distortions that protect and enhance parents' views of themselves and their children.
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, 1835 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210, USA. montemayor.1@osu.edu
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Montemayor
authors.forename: Chitra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ranganathan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002605:Character; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D018596:Hinduism; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012931:Social Environment; D012941:Social Responsibility; D012945:Social Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires