Parents' attributions for achieving compliance from attention-deficit-disordered children

Ninety-one parents provided reasons for the compliance and noncompliance of either their attention-deficit-disordered, hyperactive (ADDH) or non-ADDH child in six different situations. These attributions were rated on Weiner's (1979) dimensions of locus, stability, and controllability. While parents used the same categories to explain the reasons for their children's complaince behavior, they used different dimensional ratings for these explanations. Mothers rated attributions for noncompliance as more external than did fathers. Mothers of ADDH children viewed the causes of their children's behavior to be more unstable than did mothers of control children. Also, ADDH parents had lower expectations of achieving future compliance from their child than did non- ADDH parents. Results were discussed in terms of parental experiences, the need to consider an idiosyncratic approach to attributional meaning, and treatment implications.