The causal explanation has an effect: (1) on expectancy and value at an intra-individual level (Weiner, 2000); (2) on feeling and affective evaluation at an interpersonal level (Weiner 2000); and (3) on institutional judgment at an organizational level (Dubois, 2003). A study was conducted with pupils between the 4th and 9th grades in order to…

This report provides a critical review of the current research literature on the consequences of unintended childbearing for families and children. The review addresses the following potential consequences: prenatal and perinatal risks (e.g., inadequate or delayed initiation of prenatal care, smoking/drinking/substance use during pregnancy,…

Examined age differences and attributions of age differences in locus of control orientation for 60 college students and 97 older adults. Findings showed that both age groups misattributed levels of control orientation to the other group when compared to that group's self-ratings. Older adults endorsed more internal beliefs than did college…

Assessed causal attributions for losing perceived by high school students (N=150). Subjects responded to questionnaire comprising three categories of activities (sports, academic, social) in which they had not won or achieved desired outcome. Found that adolescent girls indicated significantly more internal attributions and boys more external…

Very little attribution research has examined subjects' self-attributions for important behaviors. When asked to identify reasons for committing criminal offenses, 60 institutionalized male delinquents cited primarily situational factors. This tendency to explain delinquent behavior appeared to be independent of chronological age, and indicative…

To assess hyperactive children's perceptions of drug treatment, a Causal Attribution Questionnaire was developed and introduced as a series of brief stories about "make believe" children to 36 hyperactive males (6 to 13 years) and a comparison group of 35 males. Results showed that the older the child in terms of chronological age, the greater the…

Male and female adults revise their perceptions of control three times in their lives, between the ages of 20 and 65. To investigate the relationship between experienced control in terms of loci of control (internal, external), situations (opposite sex, same sex), and direction (from or over the environment), and the developmental stages of men…

Research examining alcohol consumption by using Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale has reported conflicting results, possibly related to comparisons of clinical groups of alcoholics with nonclinical light drinkers or to an overuse of correlational statistics and a lack of appropriate controls. This study sampled a wide range of ages…

Examined depressive symptoms and achievement attributions in 51 attention deficit-disordered (ADD) and 51 normal school children. Found that ADD children acknowledged having more depressive symptoms and displayed more external attributions both for positive and for negative achievement than did normal children. (Author)

Children from a Catholic elementary school were interviewed to determine what they saw as probable causes for success or failure in four situations: a school testing situation an art project, playing football, and catching frogs. Causal explanations were found to differ across the four situations. (Author/GDC)

Examined age differences in attributions for self-reported successes and failures in important and daily situations. Attributions and affects were collected from 61 young, 21 middle-aged, and 15 older adults. Middle-aged and older adults were more likely than young adults to attribute failure to external causes and to describe more social than…

This study, with 87 underachieving and 77 achieving gifted students in grades 6-9, found that general locus of control measures did not differentiate between the 2 groups, that both scored significantly higher on positive internal than on negative internal locus of control, and that there were no gender or grade effects. (Author/DB)

This study examined the relationship between selection of internal attributional statements and perceived physical competence in 86 children with mental retardation. Although internal attributions increased with age, in general, the children tended to select a large proportion of external rationales of competent outcomes that may impact negatively…

Grade-level and achievement-level differences were studied in control-related beliefs and relations between students' beliefs and their reading and writing achievement for 364 students in grades 4, 7, and 10. Results suggest that beliefs characteristic of particular achievement levels are not simply reflections of age or grade level. (SLD)