Examining Malaysian mothers' causal attributions of maladaptive externalizing and internalizing behaviors in young children

• Published date: 01 December 2024
• Author: Jean Anne Heng,Sheryl Olson
• Date: 01 December 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.13050

RESEARCH

Examining Malaysian mothers’causal attributions of

maladaptive externalizing and internalizing behaviors

in young children

Jean Anne Heng

1,2

| Sheryl Olson

1

1

Department of Psychology, University of

Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

2

Centre for Family Research, University of

Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Correspondence

Jean Anne Heng, Centre for Family Research,

Department of Psychology, University of

Cambridge, Free School Lane,

United Kingdom, CB2 3RQ.

Email: jah266@cam.ac.uk

Funding information

This work was supported by a University of

Michigan Rackham Graduate Student

Research Grant

Abstract

Objective: This study provides insight into how cultural

beliefs influence parents’causal attributions of maladap-

tive externalizing and internalizing behaviors in young

children.

Background: Understanding how parents from different

cultures explain difficult behavior in young children may

inform culturally sensitive approaches for early interven-

tion and prevention. To date, work on Malaysian parents’

causal attributions of maladaptive behaviors in young chil-

dren has received little empirical attention.

Method: We employed a semistructured interview method

to assess Malaysian mothers’(N=16) open-ended expla-

nations for maladaptive externalizing and internalizing

behavior in their young children, as depicted in hypotheti-

cal scenarios. Mothers’responses were coded according to

a coding system of parental attributions.

Results: We identified cultural specificity in Malaysian

parents’attributions of children’s behaviors, with mothers

endorsing reasons for children’s maladaptive externalizing

and internalizing behaviors that were not previously cap-

tured by the existing coding system. Mothers’attributions

were informed by religious and spiritual beliefs.

Conclusions: Parents’causal attributions for children’s

maladaptive behaviors are culturally specific and are best

captured by open-ended approaches.

Implications: Cultural frames of reference shape parental

beliefs, which are crucial to the effective formulation of early

intervention and prevention approaches. Caution should be

Author note: The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request

from the corresponding author, JAH.

Received: 2 June 2023 Revised: 8 February 2024 Accepted: 14 April 2024

DOI: 10.1111/fare.13050

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2024 The Author(s). Family Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2024;73:3603–3622. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 3603

taken in general against universally operationalizing parents’

attributions of children’sbehaviors.

KEYWORDS

ethnotheories, maladaptive externalizing and internalizing behaviors,

Malaysian mothers, parental attributions, young children

Understanding how parents explain maladaptive externalizing and internalizing behaviors in

young children within diverse populations is crucial for several reasons. Such behaviors—

characterized as undesirable or socially unacceptable, while interfering with the acquisition of

desired skills or knowledge (McGrew & Bruininks, 1990)—have been linked to negative develop-

mental trajectories. This warrants early intervention and prevention, as childhood is a period of

intensive socialization and rapid development (Kramer et al., 2010). Next, parent training pro-

grams are viewed as a key effective intervention for managing such problem behaviors in children

(Kaminski et al., 2008). However, despite the increased recognition that parental attributions are

one of the greater challenges facing behavioral parenting training practitioners (Shaffer

et al., 2001), a 2018 review by Sawrikar and Dadds reported that few to no contemporary

evidence-based programs have integrated treatment components that target parental attributions.

Parental ethnotheories, defined as cultural beliefs that provide a framework for how parents

think about child development and socialization, include parental attributions, which refer to

how parents explain the causes of their children’s behaviors (Bornstein & Cheah, 2006; Olson

et al., 2019). Taken together, examining how ethnotheories shape parental attributions may

contribute to culturally sensitive formulations of treatment approaches (Okamoto et al., 2019)

that, in turn, encourage greater parental engagement (Ortiz & Del Vecchio, 2013). However,

most studies on parenting beliefs have relied on translated versions of research instruments that

have been developed within largely Western populations (Arnett, 2008), which may not possess

cultural validity (Olson et al., 2019). The current study seeks to address these gaps by examining

Malaysian mothers’causal attributions of children’s maladaptive behaviors, based on hypothet-

ical vignettes depicting a range of child externalizing and internalizing behaviors that are most

common in early childhood (Lansford et al., 2016).

Parents’causal attributions of children’s maladaptive behavior

Attribution theorists have suggested that among the key factors informing parenting practices

include inferences parents make about the motives underlying their child’s behavior, such by

assessing the situational or internal forces operating on their children (Bugental &

Johnston, 2000; Dix, 1993). For example, parents who attribute children’s misbehaviors to

external sources (such as social learning or environmental factors) may attempt to modify the

environment (e.g., removing negative stimuli), whereas parents who attribute children’s misbe-

haviors to internal sources such as emotional states or temperament may focus on parenting

strategies that address these sources (for a review, see Sawrikar & Dadds, 2018).

Regarding children’s outcomes, previous work has shown that parental attributions empha-

sizing parents’perceptions of children’s negative intentionality shows longitudinal associations

with children’s greater externalizing problems: Parents who make hostile attributions might

engage in parenting practices that model relationally aggressive actions (e.g., psychological con-

trol; Nelson et al., 2006; Rathert et al., 2011). This, in turn, has been found to predate a host of

child negative outcomes and developmental trajectories (Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor, 2016;

Suh & Luthar, 2020). Theories of parent–child interactions such as Patterson’s coercion theory

(Reid et al., 2002) and Sameroff’s(2009) transactional model view parent–child interactions as

3604 FAMILY RELATIONS