Citation

Scott-Little MC, Holloway SD. J. Appl. Dev. Psychol. 1994; 15(2): 241-253.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

How do training, education level, and child-rearing ideology relate to the attributions caregivers make concerning children's misbehavior in child-care classrooms? How does caregivers' attributional reasoning relate to their behavioral management strategies? These questions were addressed with data from 40 head teachers employed in 34 center-based child-care settings. Via questionaires, caregivers responded to four hypothetical incidents in which a 4-year-old child either committed a norm violation or failed to act altruistically. Caregivers offered attributions for the misbehavior and indicated their probable behavioral response. Results indicated that caregivers who were relatively authoritarian in their child-rearing ideology, had received less training in early childhood education, and had fewer years ofschooling, were more likely to attribute hypothetical misbehavior--particularly norm violations--to factors internal to the child. Caregivers emphasizing internal attributions were particularly likely to propose control strategies characterized by power assertion, disapproval, and sternness rather than redirection or ignoring the misbehavior.