Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in Colombia

SYNOPSIS

Objective. The present study examined mean level similarities and differences as well as correlations between mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes. Design. Interviews were conducted with mothers and fathers in 108 Colombian families. Results. Fathers reported higher uncontrollable success attributions and higher authoritarian attitudes than did mothers, whereas mothers reported higher modernity of attitudes than did fathers; only the gender differences related to parental attitudes remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. The authors found medium effect sizes for concordance between parents in the same family for attributions regarding uncontrollable success and progressive attitudes after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Conclusions. This work elucidates ways that parent gender relates to attributions regarding parents' success and failure in caregiving and to progressive versus authoritarian parenting attitudes in Colombia.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant RO1-HD054805.