The negative attribution processes of mothers of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
The objective of this study was to investigate the attribution processes of mothers regarding children's prosocial behaviors, inattention, and hyperactivity/impulsivity (symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD) using two paradigms. The first paradigm involved multidimensional attributions. The second paradigm concerned making attributions of children's identical behaviors based on information such as consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency. The participants were 64 mothers of children with ADHD (7-13 years old) and 64 mothers with typical/normal children (7-12 years old). The results showed that mothers of typical children exhibited positive attribution styles or person attributions whereas mothers of children with ADHD exhibited negative attribution styles. Mothers of children with ADHD tended to make personal attributions of children's negative behaviors (e.g., inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity; HI) but made situational attributions of prosocial behaviors. The results of this study can be used in future studies of the effects of intervention on children with ADHD or in studies related to neurophysiology.
Institute of Behavioral Medicine, National ChengKung University, No. 1, University Road, Tainan City 70101, Taiwan. Electronic address: hueilinh@mail.ncku.edu.tw.
Huei Lin
HL
Huang
Syu Sin
SS
Li
Chung Ping
CP
Cheng
Chun Yu
CY
Lin
Yen Kuang
YK
Yang
June Hui
JH
Huang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009341:Negativism; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); Attribution; Person attribution; Prosocial behavior; Sentence analogy questionnaire (SAQ)