This study of 27 couples with preschool children with disabilities found that mothers who continue over 3-5 years to ask why their child is disabled experience lower levels of well-being and that fathers who do not externalize blame to someone else or to fate experience higher levels of well-being. (Author/JDD)

The immediate verbal imitations (IVIs) of a boy (age five) with autism and echolalia were studied, with variables of linguistic familiarity and instructor's style of directiveness being manipulated. The occurrence of IVIs was related to uncertain or informative events, and was significantly greater when lexical stimuli were unknown and presented…

Learning-disabled and average readers (n=120) from grades four through six completed comprehension questions under one of four treatment conditions. Results indicated that computer-mediated text was no better than off-line conditions in improving learning-disabled readers' comprehension. Attribution and metacognitive sophistication were…

Investigated the causal explanations children use to account for common experiences. In the study, 60 preschoolers watched videotaped puppet shows designed to elicit causal attributions. Most children predominantly used internal, unstable, and specific attributions. (CB)

This study investigated the theories people hold concerning sexual abuse of deaf children, through document review, observation, interviews, and a staff survey at a residential school for the deaf. Theories that blame the victim or the culture are contrasted with those that recognize the power inequities inherent in sexual abuse. (Author/DB)

Explores the influence of attributional style on women's persistence in engineering majors after controlling for academic ability. Female students (n=255) previously or currently enrolled in an engineering program completed measures assessing their attributions for science, mathematics, and engineering academic events, and thoughts of changing…

Observed 18- to 30-month-olds' use of force against peers. Found no sex differences in average aggression levels or in mothers' aggression ratings. Rate of hitting peers and mothers' ratings were stable over 6 months for girls only. Toddlers especially sensitive to peers' possible intentions hit peers more and were more likely than to use force…

Investigates children's development of causal explanations of success and failure. Compares two measures of causal attribution to show that the use of unipolar scales best depicts differences in causal factors used by children. Explores two hypotheses about the impact of normative context on the development of causal differentiation. (DSK)

Discusses the Brain Power Program, an attribution retraining intervention to reduce peer-directed aggression. Results suggest that improvements in behavior are related to changes in subjects' attributions. Intervention effects are moderate to strong for many students but not evident at all for some students. Treatment effects diminished over time.…

In order to assist trainees in preparing for brief family therapy interventions, the following domains are discussed: knowledge of brief treatment research, clear decision-rules for problem assessment and task intervention, skill-building in service delivery, and practice in adapting to idiosyncratic responses from the client family system. (JPS)

Examined aggressive and non-aggressive young adolescents' attributions of intent in hypothetical teacher-student interactions. Found that when teachers' intentions were ambiguous, aggressive adolescents were more likely than non-aggressive adolescents to attribute hostile intentions to teachers, were more likely to blame teachers for the outcome,…

Argues that little research has been directed toward exploring cognitive variables that characterize students with poor school attendance. Presents the findings of a pilot study that compared a small sample of truants and non-truants on locus of control and attributional style. Finds that attributional style is a significant factor in explaining…

This study compared the strength of competing causal models in explaining the relationship between perceived support, enacted support, and social anxiety in adolescents. The social causation hypothesis postulates that social support causes social anxiety, whereas the social selection hypothesis postulates that social anxiety causes social support.…

Educational research places emphasis on the fact that individuals who have experienced repeated failures may develop an attribution profile characterized by a bias towards primarily external causes. The aim of this study is to compare the attribution style of adolescents with Down's syndrome with that of normal children and adolescents matched for…

A painstaking investigative report by the Washington Post describes pre-massacre Columbine as filled with social vinegar. The high school was dominated by a "cult of the athlete." In this distorted environment, a coterie of favored jocks, who wore white hats to set themselves apart, consistently bullied, hazed, and sexually harassed their…