Attributions, criticism and warmth in mothers of children with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour: a pilot study.
Mothers who think their child with ID chooses to misbehave show more criticism and less warmth—check and reshape these thoughts first.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Koegel et al. (2014) asked a small group of mothers of children with intellectual disability and daily problem behavior.
Moms filled out short forms about what they thought caused the behavior, how warm they felt toward the child, and how much they criticized.
The team also asked about the mother’s own mood and the child’s behavior problems.
What they found
Mothers who believed the child could control the behavior on purpose showed more criticism and less warmth.
These blaming thoughts also made the link between mom’s depression and child behavior problems even stronger.
How this fits with other research
Griffith et al. (2012) saw the same pattern in paid staff: when workers blamed the client, they felt more anger and used harsher styles.
Lambrechts et al. (2009) and Eisenhower et al. (2006) found weaker links among staff; emotions did not always predict how staff acted.
The new study shows the model works more clearly for mothers than for staff, so you may need different staff training and parent coaching.
Why it matters
Before you teach a mom PBS skills, ask what she thinks causes the behavior. If she says “he does it on purpose,” start with gentle reframing. Show how triggers and skills gaps drive the act, not bad will. When you shift the story, warmth can rise and criticism can fall, making your behavior plan easier to use.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add one question to your parent intake: “When your child hits, what do you think is happening?” Note any “he knows better” answers and plan a 5-minute reframing chat before teaching strategies.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Associations between parental expressed emotion (EE) or parental attributions and the problem behaviours of children with intellectual disability (ID) have been explored in ID research. However, a more detailed examination of the attributional model of EE has not been reported. In the present study, we partially replicated and extended research focused on mothers of typically developing children with behaviour problems. METHODS: Twenty-seven mothers of children with ID and behaviour problems aged 4-9 years were interviewed about their most problematic behaviours exhibited by their child, and completed a Five Minute Speech Sample. Interview transcripts and speech samples were coded for maternal EE and spontaneous causal attributions regarding the child's behaviour problems. Data were also collected on maternal well-being, and the child's behaviour problems. RESULTS: Mothers typically made attributions that were internal to the child, controllable by the child, personal to the child and stable for the child. Maternal attributions of being able to control the child's behaviour were associated with high maternal criticism and low warmth. Maternal depression was more strongly associated with the child's behaviour problems when mothers were coded as high in criticism or low in warmth. CONCLUSIONS: Patterns of maternal attributions about their child's behaviour problems and their consequences for maternal well-being and maternal-child relationships require more research attention. Implications for practice are discussed, including the potential for maternal attributions to be incompatible with the focus of positive behaviour supports offered to families.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2014 · doi:10.1111/jir.12029