Parental attributions for positive behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorder.
P Bussanich, S L Hartley, D Bolt
PMID 28332245WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder rated their child's positive behaviour as less due to the child's own stable traits than parents of comparison children.
In ASD families, seeing positive behaviour as stable was linked to closer parent-child relationships, with small effects.
Key findings
01Compared with parents of children without neurodevelopmental disabilities, mothers and fathers of children with ASD rated recent positive behaviour as less internal to the child and less stable; mothers also rated it as less controllable by the child.
02In the ASD group, parental attributions were not associated with parents' positive or negative affect, but higher stability ratings were associated with closer parent-child relationships.
03In the ASD group, child factors were associated with mothers' attributions but not fathers': older child age and higher functional skills were linked to more internal or stable ratings, while more behaviour problems were linked to less internal ratings.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample was largely Caucasian, non-Hispanic and middle socio-economic status, so findings may not apply to families from other backgrounds. Parents reported all variables, so associations could partly reflect the same reporting style. Parents rated only one recent positive behaviour, which may not represent their usual attributions. The positive behaviours chosen by parents of children with ASD may differ systematically from those chosen by comparison parents. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether attributions affect parent-child closeness or closeness affects attributions. Mother-father agreement was modest, especially for controllability. Many associations were small.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that changing parents' attributions will improve the parent-child relationship or child behaviour. The study is cross-sectional, the effects were small, and the authors say it cannot determine whether attributions shape relationships or relationships shape attributions.