An Assessment of Ethnocultural Beliefs Regarding the Causes of Birth Defects and Genetic Disorders

With the expansion of genetic services to various cultural groups, genetic counselors encounter clients who hold diverse beliefs inscribed by their culture about health conditions. Thus, clients may attribute the cause of a birth defect or genetic condition to a culturally-based health belief. This present study was conducted as a pilot study in order to assess the beliefs about the causes of birth defects and genetic disorders held by women of different ethnocultural backgrounds. This study proposed that women who do not have a family history of a disorder will differ in their knowledge about the cause of a birth defect or genetic disorder compared to women who have an affected child. In addition, this study determined to what extent culturally-based health beliefs are attributed to being the cause of a birth defect or genetic disorder in the 1990s.     

Being at risk for cardiovascular disease: perceptions and preventive behavior in people with and without a known genetic predisposition

This study compares and explains differences in perceptions of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and preventive behaviors in people with and without a known genetic predisposition to CVD. A cross-sectional study using two samples was performed. The first sample (genetic predisposition; n?=?51) consisted of individuals recently diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) through DNA testing. The second sample (no genetic predisposition; n?=?49) was recruited among patients with CVD-risk profiles based on family history of CVD, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure, registered at general practices. Participants filled out a postal questionnaire asking about their perceived risk, causal attributions (i.e. genetic and lifestyle), and about perceived efficacy and adoption of preventive behavior (i.e. medication adherence and adoption of a healthy diet and being sufficiently active). Perceived comparative risk, genetic attributions of CVD, and perceived efficacy of medication were higher in the "genetic predisposition" sample than in the "no genetic predisposition" sample. The samples did not differ on lifestyle attributions, efficacy of a healthy lifestyle, or preventive behavior. Individual differences in perceived risk, genetic attributions, perceived efficacy of medication, and adoption of a healthy lifestyle were best explained by family history of CVD. Our findings suggest that in people diagnosed with a single gene disorder characterized by a family disease history such as FH, family disease history may be more important than DNA information in explaining perceptions of and responses to risk.     

Youths’ attributions for power-related gender differences: nature,nurture, or God?

This study examined beliefs about power-related gender traits among 73 early adolescents in middle school (M age=12.5), 84 late adolescents in high school (M age=16.1), and 111 young adults in college (M age=20.9). Males believed that men had more dominant traits than female participants, and females thought that women had more submissive traits than male participants. Older participants perceived more gender differentiation for these traits than younger participants. Youths believed most strongly in social explanations for differences, followed by biological and religious explanations, although there were age and sex differences in responses. Findings suggest that religious and biological attributions decrease between early adolescence and adulthood for both males and females, but that social attributions increase for females only. Religious attributions were linked to traditional attitudes towards women, social attributions were linked to egalitarian attitudes, while biological attributions were linked to traditional attitudes for males only.     

Causal attributions of obese men and women in genetic testing: Implications of genetic/biological attributions1

The present study sought to investigate genetic/biological attributions of obesity, their associations with a predisposition to obesity and their crossectional and longitudinal implications for weight regulation in obese individuals presenting for genetic testing and counselling. A total of 421 obese men and women underwent psychological and anthropometric assessment and a mutation screen of the melanocortin-4 receptor gene. At study entry, women revealed more genetic/biological attributions than men on the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire adapted to obesity (86.2% versus 59.7%). Genetic/biological attributions of obesity were associated in both sexes with a family history of obesity, assessed through Stunkard's Figure Rating Scale. In both sexes, genetic/biological attributions were unrelated to weight regulation beliefs and behaviour (i.e. self-efficacy, controllability beliefs, restrained eating and physical activity), assessed through standardised questionnaires or interview at baseline and at six-month follow-up. In addition, causal attributions and weight regulation beliefs and behaviour were not predictive of body mass index at six-month follow-up. Overall, the results indicate that causal attributions of obesity to genetic/biological factors in obese individuals presenting for genetic screening and counselling are crossectionally and longitudinally unrelated to weight regulation and longer-term weight outcome. Those who attribute their obesity to genetic/biological factors likely have a familial obesity risk.     

A cross‐cultural examination of Aboriginal and European Canadian mothers' beliefs regarding proactive and reactive aggression

The purpose of the present study was to examine the maternal beliefs and practices regarding preschool children's proactive and reactive aggression, within a cross‐cultural framework. Participants included 30 Aboriginal and 45 European Canadian mothers of preschoolers who provided their emotional reactions, causal attributions, socialization strategies, and parenting goals in response to children's aggressive behaviours. Results supported previous research that both groups of mothers generally responded negatively to both types of aggression, although there were differences in the extent of negative emotional responses expressed by mothers in the two cultures depending on the type of aggression. Mothers believed that reactive aggression was due to more external causes than proactive aggression and generally used more power assertive strategies in response to proactive versus reactive aggression. Aboriginal mothers were less anxious and used less power assertive strategies than European Canadian mothers. These findings speak to the importance of examining both similarities and differences in mother's beliefs and practices across cultures. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Causal attributions during therapy II: Reconstituted families and parental blaming

A powerful route to understanding communication within the family is provided by identifying and coding the causal attributions they make during family therapy sessions. The analysis of attributions of responsibility reported in the first of these linked papers (Stratton, 2003) is here extended to explore the accounts given by biological, step- and adoptive parents about their children. Some 1799 causal attributions offered spontaneously by the family members during therapy were analysed according to the Leeds Attributional Coding System (Stratton et al ., 1988). Attributional styles that previously have been found to relate to abuse were more common when stepfathers talked about their children, although none of the parents were believed to be abusing their children. The adoptive parents' attributions were more explicit about problems with the children but were more likely to be functional. Stepfathers made substantially more attributions in the form of blaming a child, with the dimensions identifying characterological blaming being especially significant. Alternative styles of attributing which would offer a way of avoiding characterological blaming are presented. Possible causes and consequences of the consistencies in problematic attributing, and the implications for therapy, are discussed.     

Book review

Long-standing beliefs about one's self-efficacy and learning ability accumulate over the school years. Attributions, or causal perceptions and interpretations, of behavioural outcomes are also based on a person's learning history. And, it is evident from research on attributional bias and self-esteem that the perceived causes of success and failure have consequences for academic success. An important perspective on attributions, frequently neglected in educational research, pertains to content-specific beliefs about one's competence. We set up a field study in which students from the first form of secondary education were asked to report their causal attributions of regular school examinations in three school subjects: history, native language, and mathematics. The results suggest that students generate different causal attributions for successful or unsuccessful examinations, belonging to different school-subjects. Perception of specific examination conditions may or may not urge students to generate specific attributions. There is evidence for both school-subject specificity and examination-specificity in the observed causal attributions. But, the effect of school-subject seems to be more pronounced than the effect of examination. Information at the momentary level (examination conditions) interacts with information at the middle level (school-subject). Closer analyses of the observed causal attributions vis-à-vis perceived success and failure in the three school-subjects displayed marked differences, especially in relation to the effort attributions.     

Could Treatment Matching Patients’ Beliefs About Depression Improve Outcomes?

Patients’ beliefs about depression and expectations for treatment can influence outcomes of major depressive disorder (MDD) treatments. We hypothesized that patients with weaker biological beliefs (less endorsement of [a] biochemical causes and [b] need for medication) and more optimistic treatment expectations (greater improvement and shorter time to improvement), have better outcomes in cognitive therapy (CT). Outpatients with recurrent MDD who received acute-phase CT (N = 152), and a subset of partial or unstable responders (N = 51) randomized to 8 months of continuation CT or fluoxetine with clinical management, completed repeated measures of beliefs, expectations, and depression. As hypothesized, patients with weaker biological beliefs about depression, and patients who expected a shorter time to improvement, experienced greater change in depressive symptoms and more frequent response to acute-phase CT. Moreover, responders who received continuation treatment better matched to their biological beliefs (i.e., responders with weaker biological beliefs about depression who received continuation CT, or responders with stronger biological beliefs about depression who received continuation fluoxetine) had fewer depressive symptoms and less relapse/recurrence by 32 months after acute-phase CT than did responders who received mismatched continuation treatment. Specific screening and/or intervention targeting patients’ biological beliefs about depression could increase CT efficacy.     

Seeking professional help: Etiology beliefs about mental illness across cultures

In the present study, the authors examined the contributions of cultural beliefs about the etiology of mental illness to the seeking of help from mental health professionals among college students in 4 cultural groups, European Americans, Chinese Americans, Hong Kong Chinese, and Mainland Chinese. Group differences were found in help-seeking history and likelihood, with European and Chinese Americans being more likely to seek help than Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese. Multiple-group path analysis showed that lay beliefs about causes of mental illness and prior help-seeking history significantly predicted help-seeking likelihood, which was related positively to environmental/hereditary causes but negatively to social-personal causes. Our findings demonstrate the importance of understanding help-seeking patterns within specific cultural contexts and the effects of Western influences on shaping help-seeking propensities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).     

Necessary versus sufficient causal schemata: Attributions for achievement in difficult and easy tasks

Previous research on Kelley's schemata for multiple sufficient and multiple necessary causes has failed to examine the hypothesis that a schema influences both predictions of an event and attributions of its causes. This research examined the effects of the difficulty of a hypothetical exam on predictions of exam grades, and on attributions of ability and effort. Exam difficulty influenced both the pattern of judgments of grades and reported beliefs in multiple necessary versus multiple sufficient causes. Contrary to the predictions of the schema theory, exam difficulty had little influence on the pattern of attributions of ability and effort. Kelley's concept of a causal schema is reinterpreted in terms of current views of human judgment, and the possible implications of the data for the interpretations of a causal schema are examined. The results question the assumption that attributions are based on beliefs about how causes combine to determine an effect, and suggest further research on the relationship between predictions and attributions.     

Who deserves to be sick? An exploration of the relationships between belief in a just world, illness causal attributions and their fairness judgements

This research explored relationships between beliefs about justice, illness causal attributions and fairness judgements of those causes. Participants (n?=?200) completed questionnaires assessing their belief in a just world (BJW) and measuring causal attributions and fairness judgements for 42 illness causes classified into behavioural, environmental and hidden (genetic, mystic, psychosocial) categories. As predicted, BJW was correlated positively with all fairness judgements, but with none of the illness causal attributions. Behavioural causes of illness were judged to be fairer than environmental causes, which were judged fairer than hidden causes. Finally, for environmental and hidden causes (uncontrollable illness attributions), positive correlations between causal attributions and their corresponding fairness judgements were found only among participants with high BJW. Implications of these findings for decision makers and health professionals are discussed, with emphasis on the need to consider the combined effect of causal attributions and BJW on illness fairness judgements.     

CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS BY JAPANESE AND AMERICAN MOTHERS AND CHILDREN ABOUT PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS*

In this study we examined the possibility that causal inferences about performance may help explain the relatively superior achievement of Japanese students in mathematics. Data from mothers and children in Japan and the U.S. were examined for (a) attributions about causes of performance in math; (b) intra-family transmission of beliefs; and (c) effect of sex of child on attributions. Results showed that Japanese mothers and children emphasized effort, particularly for low performance, while American mothers and children emphasized ability. Beliefs of mothers and children were similar within country but not within family, suggesting that transmission is diffuse. Differences in attributions about performance of boys and girls did not appear in Japan and in the U.S. appeared for mothers only. The emphasis placed on attributions to effort seems to offer a highly motivating context for Japanese students.     

Motivational determinants of reading comprehension: A comparison of French,Caucasian–American,and African–American adolescents

The relationships between adolescents' reading comprehension and their metacognitive knowledge and self-system beliefs were studied in three groups of subjects: French nationals, Caucasian Americans, and African Americans. Subjects were tested on measures of reading comprehension, metacognitive knowledge about reading processes, attributional beliefs, and academic self-concept. Correlation and regression analyses indicated cultural differences in the predictors of reading comprehension among the three groups. For French and Caucasian Americans, reading comprehension scores were related to metacognitive knowledge, academic self-concept, and attributions of success to ability. However, metacognition and motivational beliefs were mostly unrelated to comprehension performance for African Americans. Results are discussed in terms of verification of a model of motivational influences on performance, of cultural and ethnic group differences in beliefs, and the implications for generalizability of research results.     

Poverty in developing nations: a cross‐cultural attributional analysis

A survey of anti‐poverty activists and non‐activists in Canada and the Philippines was conducted to assess their beliefs about the causes of poverty in developing nations. Principal components analysis revealed that the respondents' poverty attributions could be distinguished along five main dimensions: exploitation, characterological weaknesses of the poor, natural causes, conflict, and poor government. Group breakdowns revealed several significant differences related to respondents' countries of residence and social ideologies. A path analysis suggested that attributions fully mediated the relationship between social ideology and participation in anti‐poverty activism. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Causal Attributions,Perceived Control,and Psychological Adjustment: A Study of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome1

Causal attributions control, beliefs, and helpful and unhelpful support attempts were examined among people experiencing chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and their close others. Results revealed that 84% of respondents with CFS believed that their illness was due, at least in part, to physical or external causes, whereas 47% mentioned internal/psychological causes. Reports of internal causal attributions for CFS were positively correlated with indicators of poor psychological adjustment among those with CFS. Having an external locus of control (i.e., to powerful others) was also associated with poorer psychological adjustment among respondents with CFS. Close others' causal attributions to internal factors were related to frequency of self‐reported unhelpful support attempts and to reports of depression and anxiety those respondents with CFS.     

初中数学学习中教师归因与学生自我归因的比较研究

本文研究了初中数学学习中教师的信念与归因．学生自我的信念与归因以及师生归因的比较,得出如下几点结论：(1)在教师和学生的信念中男生在数学学习中更占优势。但在归因领域里却没有发现显著的性别差异。(2)对最好的学生,教师倾向于努力归因;对最差的学生,教师倾向于基础归囚。(3)最好的学生自我归因时倾向于基础和方法归因,最差的学生倾向于努力和方法归因。(4)师生归因维度上的一般趋势：造成数学学习成功的原因比较稳定、内源、可控;造成数学学习失败的原因也倾向于内源,但比较不稳定,不可控。(5)师生特定归因中的差异广泛存在,建议采取相应的教育对策。     

Causal attributions during therapy I: Responsibility and blame

The way that responsibility is attributed and blame is expressed and apportioned in families is a crucial but rather neglected issue for family therapy. A case is made for analysing causal attributions as a way to gain a better understanding of these processes. The Leeds Attributional Coding System (Stratton et al. , 1988) was used to analyse all the attributions made early in therapy by eight families which included biological, step- and adoptive parents. Some 1799 attributions made by family members during ten therapy sessions were identified and their attributional dimensions recorded. Both parents and children used attributional patterns consistent with blaming the child and there was evidence of the occurrence of an 'attributional discrepancy', found previously in families of abuse, with more personal and controllable causes being applied to the child. Considering attributional dimensions in combination proved an effective way of identifying incidences of characterological blaming. Limited changes in the form of these attributions, by focusing on change in just one of the dimensions, could convert them into more benign and productive contributions to family conversations.