The impact of parental attributions and characteristics on treatment outcome in multisystemic therapy for delinquent youth.
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: The goal of the current study was to examine parental attributions about their child's behavior, beliefs, and attitudes in the context of participation in Multisystemic treatment (MST) for delinquent youth.MST focuses on the youth and their family, and requires intense participation by the parents, as well as the youth (e.g.Henggeler et al., 1986).Due to parents' integral involvement in treatment, the impact of their attributions, self-efficacy and motivation may have implications for treatment success.Research applying attributional theory to treatment of behavioral problems is limited, and the present study sought to provide information to fill this gap in clinical research.The attribution dimensions of locus of causality, controllability, stability, and globality were measured to determine the extent to which initial attributions were associated with initial feelings of parental self-efficacy, and parents' motivation for participation in treatment.The study also examined the role of attributions, self-efficacy, and treatment motivation as predictors of treatment outcome, as measured by a decrease in the severity of problematic behaviors.In addition to the predictive model, changes in parental selfefficacy over the course of treatment were analyzed, to assess the effectiveness of MST interventions at increasing parents' sense of efficacy and control of the child's behavior.The study included 142 parents of children with delinquency problems, who were
Author: Lindsay M. Johannes
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Ohio Department of Mental Health
OpenAlex ID: W2287799195