Parenting children with a learning disability : the relationship between parental causal attributions, parenting strategies and child behaviour problems

• Main Author: Jacobs, Myrthe
• Published: University of Strathclyde 2013
• Subjects: 150
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.605900

This thesis used an attributional framework to examine parental cognitions of behaviour of children with a learning disability (LD), in particular how they predict parent and child behaviour and how these views compare to prevailing societal views of disability. Four studies were carried out. The first study assessed views prevailing among parents of typically developing (TD) children of children with an LD and compared these to views held by parents of children with an LD. Parents of children with an LD overall complied to these prevailing views of LD. A small group of parents holding more affirmative views was identified and these parents made corresponding affirmative choices for their child. The second study was qualitative and investigated the views of parents of children with an LD more in-depth by evaluating views on causes of misbehaviour. Both causes relating to the LD and more typical causes were identified and seemed to affect parenting strategies in different ways. The third study then examined these relationships quantitatively in parents of children with an LD in comparison to parents of TD children. Result showed that parents' attributions predicted strategies differently for each group. An attribution of high child control and low parent responsibility was unsupportive of effective parenting in parents of children with an LD while this was not the case for parents of TD children. The final study subsequently aimed to examine in more detail the underlying structure of parent and child responsibility and control over behaviour in parents of children with an LD and uncovered two different interpretations of responsibility in parents. Implications for theory and measurement of attributions are discussed and suggestions for child behaviour interventions are given.