J. Child Psychol. Psychiat. Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 245–252, 2000 Cambridge University Press 2000 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0021–963000 $15.000.00 Latina Mothers’ Attributions, Emotions, and Reactions to the Problem Behaviors of their Children with Developmental Disabilities Vı ctor Chavira and Steven R. Lo pez University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.A. Jan Blacher University of California, Riverside, U.S.A. Johanna Shapiro University of California, Irvine, U.S.A. We examined the appli cabil ity of attribution theory to mothe rs’ percept ions and reacti ons to their child’ s problem behavi or. Participan ts were 149 Latina mothers of children with developmental disabilities who were interviewed regarding specific incidents in which their child exhibited a behavior problem. The findings indicate that most mothers viewed their child as not being responsible for the behavior problem. Furthermore, as predicted by attribution theory, mothers who ascribed relatively high responsibility to the child were si gni ficant ly more likely to report negat ive emot ions (anger and frustrat ion) and aggressiveharsh behavioral reactions than mothers who ascribed low responsibility. Also, mothers were more likely to ascribe high responsibility to the child when the problem was characterized as a behavioral excess than as a behavioral deficit. The results provide support for the applicability of an attributional framework and may have important implications for helpi ng parents in addressing the probl em behavi ors of their childre n with developmental disabilities. Keywords:Attribution, emotion, disability, Latino, parent, child. Parent s’ reactions to their child’s problem behavio rs are important to the functioning of the child and the family. Neg ati ve par enta l emotions pred ict poor chi ld and family outcomes whereas positive emotions predict favorable outcomes. For example, negative emotions may interfere with appropria te par enti ng practi ces, suc h as mon itoring, problem solv ing, and attendi ng to the chil d’ s needs (Patterson, 1982; Vasta, 1982). They also make it di fficult for children to learn from parents’ messages regarding discipline (Hoffman, 1983). Parents’ negative behavioral reactions, suc h as har sh or aggressive par enting, are similarly associated with poor parent–child relations and child conduct disorders (Kendziora & O’Leary, 1993; see also Patterson, 1982). Considering the significant role of negative emotions and harshaggressive beha viors in par ent ing , it is im- portant to understand why some parents are more likely than others to react in this manner. Attribution theory may prov ide one explanation. Acc ording to Wei ner ’s (1985, 1995) theory of motivation and emotion, whether a chi ld’ s proble m behavi or eli cits neg ati ve emo tions (anger) and behavi ora l reacti ons (agg res sion) from parents depends on whether the child is judged to be Req ues ts for reprints to: Vic tor Cha vir a, Department ofPsycho logy, Universi ty of Californi a at Los Angeles, 1282a Franz Hall, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, U.S.A. (E-ma il: vchavi raclinicalpsychology.org). responsible for the behavi or. If a parent perce ives a child’s temper tantrums, for example, as being outside hi s or her control or as unintentional, then the parent is not likely to react with anger. In contrast, if a parent judges the child to be responsible for his or her acting out, then the parent is likely to respond angrily. Attribution theory further postulates that the parents’ feelings will be likely to lead to specific parental behavior. For example, angry feelings will be related to harsh reactions such as yelling and hitting. Studies over thepast 10 years provide somesupportfor an attribu tional model of negative emotio ns in p arenting. In one of the earliest studies to test this framework, Dix, Ruble, and Zambarano (1989) exposed parents to hy- poth etic al scenarios of chi ldren eng age d in proble m behaviors and asked parents to rate their attributions ofcontrol and their emotional reactions toward the chil- dren. As predicted, parents who believed the child was resp ons ible for the mis behavi or wer e lik ely to report feel ing ang ry. Simila rly , an obs erva tional study of par ents of phys ic al ly abus ed chil dr en (Bug enta l, Bl ue, & Cruzcos a, 1989) found that mothers who ten ded to perceive a high degree of child control (relative to low mother control) over their children’s problem behavior were more likely to express negative affect while inter- acting with their children. Although few studies have examined parents’ aggress- ive behavi or fro m an at tribut ional perspecti ve, the available research is also consistent with the attribution- emot ion mode l. In a st udy of maternal di scip li ne 245
