Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 1 of 1
Mothers of children who have an intellectual disability: their attributions, emotions and behavioural responses to their child’s challenging behaviour
- Authors:
- ARMSTRONG Heather, DAGNAN Dave
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 24(5), September 2011, pp.459-467.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Weiner’s attribution model of motivation suggests that attributions about the causes of particular situations will influence an individual’s emotional and behavioural response to the situation. This paper examines the application of Weiner’s model to the responses of mothers to the challenging behaviour of their children who have an intellectual disability. It also examines whether, as suggested by Weiner’s model, anger mediates the effect of attribution of responsibility on likelihood of punishment as an intervention. The participants, 56 mothers of children with an intellectual disability, rated their attributions, assignment of responsibility and emotional and behavioural responses to 3 vignettes describing challenging behaviours. The findings showed that mothers rated their children as significantly more in control of, responsible for, and felt significantly more angry about aggressive behaviour than stereotypic behaviour. They were significantly more likely to punish aggressive behaviour than self-injurious or stereotypic behaviour. Regression analysis suggested that mothers who assign more responsibility to their child were more likely to consider punishing their child and that this relationship is mediated by anger. Implications for clinical work with parents of children who have an intellectual disability are discussed.