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Child Abuse: An Attribution Perspective

NCJ Number
193390
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2002 Pages: 77-81
Author(s)
Frank D. Fincham
Date Published
February 2002
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article offers observations on the study of children’s attributions for abuse.
Abstract
The investigation of children’s attributions for abuse is one of many applications of an attributional framework to applied problems. Delineation of the domain to which the term attribution applies still remains the “single most significant barrier to progress.” The founding father of attribution research had a concern with how a perceiver linked a person’s behavior to underlying properties of the person to explain their behavior. The types of attributions are causal, responsibility, and blame attributions. Responsibility attributions have at least two different referents: moral responsibility and causal responsibility. One assumption found is that perceived internal causes and external causes define two end points on a bipolar dimension. Using two unidimensional scales in lieu of a single bipolar scale has important implications. Most of what is known about attributions and their underlying dimensions reflects a single perspective, that of the questionnaire respondent (insider). The perspective of the scientist (outsider) provides a useful complement to the insider perspective in the study of attributions. It is important to recognize that public attributions may be different from those held privately. The development and adoption of a system for coding children’s attributions for abuse has the potential to open up new research vistas. The step to pay particular attention to the measurement of attributions has often been ignored in broader attribution research. Impressive findings across childhood and adulthood reflect exemplary attention to assessment. Creative reconceptualization of attributions within a power framework has been accomplished. 33 references