A Study On The Compilation And Attribution Characteristics Of The Parent-child Conflict Attribution Scale For Middle School Students

Adolescent-parent conflict has been becoming more and more severe in China. If notproperly dealt with, frequent adolescent-parent conflict would not only go against the healthydevelopment of adolescent, but also destroy the harmony and happiness of family and evenaffect social stability. Therefore, the study of middle school students’ adolescent-parent conflict,which is the main body of adolescent, is of important practical significance.Domestic research on adolescent-parent conflict is still in its infancy nowadays. It mainlyused brief revised questionnaires abroad to study characteristics and influence factors ofadolescent-parent conflict, and lacked cognitive research like discussions on the causes ofconflict. Attribution theory rising in the early1960s provides a new path to studying thecognitive process behind behaviours. The purposes of this study are to explore adolescent-parentconflict in the new perspective of attribution, work out Adolescent-parent Conflict AttributionScale of Middle School Students and measure attribution characteristics. Thus it will help deeplyreveal causes of adolescent-parent conflict, and provide theoretical basis for future interventions.This study used Weiner’s Attribution Theory on Motivation and Emotion as theoretical basis.According to locus of causality (internal and external), stability of causality (stable and unstable)and controllability of causality (controllable and uncontrollable), this scale was divided into ISC,ISU, IUC, IUU, ESC, ESU, EUC, EUU8subscales which stand for8attributional typesrespectively. First, through a lot of open questionnaire investigation, interviews, expertdiscussion and evaluation, this study worked out adolescent-parent conflict attributionforecasting scale of middle school students. Then,382effective forecasting questionnaire resultswere conducted project analysis and exploratory factor analysis on, and entries that did not meetthe conditions were deleted. Thus far, a formal scale that contained30topics had been formed.At last, we used the formal scale to test962effective subjects, then tested the results’ reliabilityand validity and analyzed attribution characteristics.This study reaches the following conclusions:(1) Adolescent-parent Conflict Attribution Scale of Middle School Students contains8subscales: ISC Scale on behalf of the internal, stable and controllable attributional style, ISUScale on behalf of the internal, stable and uncontrollable attributional style, IUC Scale on behalfof the internal, unstable and controllable attributional style, IUU Scale on behalf of the internal,unstable and uncontrollable attributional style, ESC Scale on behalf of the external, stable andcontrollable attributional style, ESU Scale on behalf of the external, stable and uncontrollableattributional style, EUC Scale on behalf of the external, unstable and controllable attributionalstyle, EUU Scale on behalf of the external, unstable and uncontrollable attributional style.(2) Adolescent-parent Conflict Attribution Scale of Middle School Students has good reliability and validity. It can be used as an effective tool for measuring middle school students’adolescent-parent conflict attribution.(3) Generally, middle school students’ adolescent-parent conflict attribution tends to beexternal.(4) In Adolescent-parent Conflict Attribution Scale of Middle School Students, there aresignificant differences in gender, grade and area. The interactions between gender and grade,grade and area, grade and only child or not are significant too. Specifically, there are significantdifferences in gender in ESC Scale. Boys’ level of external, stable and controllable attributionalstyle is higher than girls. There are significant differences in grade in ISU, IUC, IUU, ESC, ESU,EUC and EUU scales. There are significant differences in area in ISC, IUC, IUU, ESC and EUUscales. Middle school students from the rural areas’ levels are higher than those of the studentsfrom urban areas. The interactions between gender and grade are significant in IUU and ESCscales. The interactions between grade and area are significant in EUU, IUC, IUU and ESCscales. The interaction between grade and only child or not is significant in IUU Scale.