title: Attributions of Fathering Behaviors Among Adolescents: The Role of Gender, Ethnicity, Family Structure, and Depressive Symptoms.
abstract: Little attention has been paid to how early adolescents make attributions for their fathers' behavior. Guided by symbolic interaction theory, we examined how adolescent gender, ethnicity, family structure, and depressive symptoms explained attributions for residential father behavior. 382 adolescents, grouped by ethnicity (European American, Mexican American) and family structure (intact, stepfamilies), reported attributions for their fathers' positive and negative behaviors. Results indicated that for positive events girls made significantly more stable attributions, whereas boys made more unstable attributions. Mexican American adolescents tended to make more unstable attributions for positive events than European Americans, and adolescents from intact families made more stable attributions for positive events than adolescents from stepfamilies. Implications are discussed for the role of attributions in father-adolescent relationships as prime for intervention in families.
authors.affiliation: The Pennsylvania State University, 110 South Henderson Building, University Park, PA 16802; Work number: 650-493-5000/1-2-22434; ; akf134@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Andrea K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Finlay
authors.affiliation: San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave, San Francisco, CA 94132; Work number: 415-405-2133; Fax 415-338-2398; cookston@sfsu.edu.
authors.forename: Jeffrey T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cookston
authors.affiliation: Arizona State University, PO Box 877805, Tempe, AZ 85287-7805; Work number: 480-965-1383; ; Delia.Saenz@asu.edu.
authors.forename: Delia S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Saenz
authors.affiliation: Chandler-Gilbert Community College, 2626 East Pecos Road, Chandler, AZ 85225-2499; Work number: 480-726-4076; ; melinda.baham@cgcmail.maricopa.edu.
authors.forename: Melinda E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Baham
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92506; Work number: 951-827-6306; ; ross.parke@ucr.edu.
authors.forename: Ross D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Parke
authors.affiliation: Arizona State University, 950 S. McAllister, Room 237 | P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104; Work number: 480 965-9372; ; william.fabricius@asu.edu.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fabricius
authors.affiliation: Arizona State University, 950 S. McAllister, Room 237 | P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104; Work number: 602-330-1312; ; sanford.braver@asu.edu.
authors.forename: Sanford
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Braver
keywords: Attributions; depressive symptoms; ethnicity; family relations