Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in Jordan

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 in Jordan. Design. Interviews were conducted with mothers and fathers in 112 families. Results. There were no significant main effects of gender on any of the constructs of interest. Mothers and fathers reported similar levels of attributions regarding uncontrollable success, adult-controlled failure, and child-controlled failure in the same family. Regarding attitudes, mothers and fathers reported greater progressive attitudes than authoritarian attitudes. The authors found large, significant correlations for concordance between parents in the same family on all 7 attributions and attitudes examined; all remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. The authors found significant positive correlations for mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding uncontrollable success, adult-controlled failure, child-controlled failure, perceived control over failure, progressive attitudes, authoritarian attitudes, and modernity of attitudes. Conclusions. This study concluded that in Jordan mothers and fathers hold similar levels of attributions and attitudes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant RO1-HD054805 and Fogarty International Center grant RO3-TW008141.