Parental ability attributions regarding children's academic performance : Person-oriented approach on longitudinal data

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify subgroups of mothers and fathers who differ according to the patterns of causal attribution to ability for their children's academic success and failure across early school years. Moreover, the extent to which the mother and father of the same child share the same attribution pattern, and how the attribution patterns are associated with the parents' level of education, children's sex and children's academic performance was investigated. A total of 1721 mothers and 1198 fathers filled out a questionnaire concerning their child-related ability attributions when the children were in Grades 1–3. Five different attribution patterns were identified with latent profile analysis. The patterns were similar among the mothers and fathers, and the parents of the same child typically were represented by the same pattern. The attribution patterns were associated with the children's level of performance and, among mothers, parental level of education.