Abstract
This study examined the relationship between the explanatory style of parents for events involving their school-aged children and the children's classroom performance. Parents and teachers of 52 disabled and 40 nondisabled elementary school students completed questionnaires. Those children whose parents attributed bad events to internal, stable, and global causes tended not to fulfill their potential in the classroom, according to ratings by their teachers. The same patterns held for both disabled and nondisabled children. Findings suggest that the attributional beliefs of parents can affect the behavior of their children.
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This paper is based on an honors thesis in psychology at the University of Michigan, completed by the first author under the supervision of the second author. We wish to thank Jane Somers for making this research possible. Lisa M. Bossio gave helpful editorial advice. Anne Vanden Belt is now at the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
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Belt, A.V., Peterson, C. Parental explanatory style and its relationship to the classroom performance of disabled and nondisabled children. Cogn Ther Res 15, 331–341 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01205177
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01205177