Is there a relationship between parent controllability attributions and problematic behaviour in children with developmental disabilities?

Woolfson, L. and Taylor, R. and Mooney, L.; Mrowinski, Vicky and Kyrios, Michael and Voudouris, Nicholas, eds. (2010) Is there a relationship between parent controllability attributions and problematic behaviour in children with developmental disabilities? In: Abstracts of the 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology. The Australian Psychological Society Ltd, AUS, pp. 859-860. ISBN 978-0-909881-46-7

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Abstract

The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of parental attributions of adult and child controllability as a moderator in the well-established relationship between child developmental disability and behavior problems. The influence of parental attributions of adult and child controllability on the relationship between problem behaviors and disability was explored in mothers of children with developmental disabilities (DD) (N =20), with a mean age of nine years and three months (SD =24.6 months); and in mothers of typically developing (TD) children (N =26) with a mean age of nine years and four months (SD =23.7 months). The DD group comprised 11 children with autistic spectrum disorders or communication impairments, three children with Down Syndrome, one with cerebral palsy, one with attentional problems, and four with specific or complex developmental problems. Child behavior was measured by four social interactional scales from the Child Behavior Checklist. Parental attributions were measured using a modified version of the Parent Attribution Test. Mothers were divided into higher and lower controllability groups on the basis of their responses on this test. Multivariate analysis of variance found significant group x adult controllability interaction effects for aggressive behavior, rule-breaking behavior, as well as borderline significant effects for other problems and social problems. Simple effects analysis suggested that when mothers had low attributions of adult controllability, there were indeed significantly more problem behaviors in the DD group, but when mothers had attributions of high adult controllability there was no longer any significant difference in problematic behavior between the two groups. Parent attributions of controllability may moderate the well-established effect of disability on problem behavior. Implications for parent intervention programs are discussed.

ORCID iDs

Woolfson, L. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7442-3386, Taylor, R. and Mooney, L.; Mrowinski, Vicky, Kyrios, Michael and Voudouris, Nicholas
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)