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Making Sense of Behaviour
Published in Cathy Laver-Bradbury, Margaret J.J. Thompson, Christopher Gale, Christine M. Hooper, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2021
The advantages of the 5 Ps and the bio-psycho-social approach to formulation are that clinicians are encouraged to think beyond biological explanations even when the presentation is conceptualised as a biological problem. It is simple and understood by all, even by those who are not aware of the different models for conceptualising causal attribution of behaviour. The limitations are that it allows for factors to be included without a clear causal link or a sophisticated understanding of what the problem is. Living with three children under five is a social factor for depression in a depressed mother. It is right that this is thought about when constructing a formulation. The problem may not be so much depression in the mother as neglect from the father. Three children under five as a social factor may ‘explain’ depression beyond neurotransmitters, but miss what is essentially a social-relational problem.
A multidisciplinary problem
Published in Olaf Dammann, Etiological Explanations, 2020
In medicine, causal attribution has a long and colorful history. Vandenbroucke27 refers to Anne Fagot-Largeault's thesis on causes of death, in which the author discusses the phenomenon that in medicine, causal inference is frequently performed by some kind of “detective-like-back-reasoning” from effects back to their putative causes.28 Based only on case series, with no controls or confounder adjustments, causal powers are attributed to individual antecedents based on repeated observations and are then generalized without further ado. For some reason, Vandenbroucke writes, “modern medicine seems to escape at least in part – from today's dogmas that all our investigations and reasoning should be ‘hypothetico-deductive’” (SII 16).29
Mechanisms, causal models and pathways
Published in Nick Spencer, Sir Donald Acheson, Poverty and Child Health, 2018
Nick Spencer, Sir Donald Acheson
Path analysis has been used to study the relationship between socio-economic status and infant mortality in the USA.97,98 Using this methodology, Brooks97 was able to demonstrate that socio-economic factors determine variations in country infant mortality, neonatal mortality and post-neonatal mortality rates and to challenge suggestions that socio-economic correlations with infant mortality were in decline. Sheehan uses a structural modelling approach to study the relationship between stress and low birth weight.99Figure 9.4a and b shows the structural equation model of stress factors affecting low birth weight and the best model of the influence of stress on birth weight, which suggests that economic stress is mediated through lack of social support and family stress which in turn act through addictive behaviour (smoking and drinking alcohol) to affect birth weight. As Sheehan states, ‘structural equation modelling can provide insight into a complex set of relationships by examining combinations of remote and proximal relationships’ (p. 1510). However, causal pathways should be treated with caution as they suffer the same problems of causal attribution as other analyses based on empirical observation. Their advantage lies in their capacity to conceptualise and study complex relationships between distal and proximal predictor variables.
Gender Differences in Behavioral Problems in Child Victims of Sexual Abuse: Contribution of Self-Blame of the Parent and Child
Published in Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 2023
Anabel De Champlain, Amélie Tremblay-Perreault, Martine Hébert
Causal attribution (internal or external) refers to the process by which the individual perceives and then interprets behaviors and events by inferring the causes of the situation (Zinzow et al., 2010). For example, a SA victim could interpret that the event happened through their own fault (internal attribution) or the fault of the abuser (external attribution). According to this concept, an internal attribution is related to the conviction that specific characteristics of the individual or their behavior have caused the event. Studies have shown that following SA, the majority of victims are likely to develop self-blame (internal attribution) (Zinzow et al., 2010). In the current study, self-blame refers to the sense of responsibility of a person who believes that they should have felt, thought or acted otherwise (Kubany & Watson, 2003). Self-blame is a component of self-directed emotions, such as guilt, used when a stressful event appears and therefore, influences the way the individual will adapt to it.
‘Why us?’ Causal attributions of childhood cancer survivors, survivors’ parents and community comparisons - a mixed methods analysis
Published in Acta Oncologica, 2019
J. Vetsch, C. E. Wakefield, E. L. Doolan, C. Signorelli, B. M. McGill, L. Moore, P. Techakesari, R. Pieters, A. F. Patenaude, M. McCarthy, R. J. Cohn
After a childhood cancer diagnosis, patients and relatives often wonder ‘why me/my child?’. To seek an explanation for the occurrence of a threatening event is a natural human response [1,2], and patients and their families tend to ask oncologists to explain the cause of their cancer. Little is known about how patients settle on ‘a cause/multiple causes’ of their cancer. Patients may not listen purely to their oncologist when making this decision but may integrate other information, thereby developing their own ‘personal theory’ about cancer etiology [3]. Deciding on a potential cause for a negative event is referred to as making a ‘causal attribution’ [4]. Causal attributions can help patients to find meaning and create a better understanding of the negative event [5].
Etiology and Attitudes: Beliefs About the Origins of Homosexuality and Their Implications for Public Policy
Published in Journal of Homosexuality, 2014
I have also extended our understanding of the factors related to this causal attribution. Using a more complete battery of controls (including partisanship, income, political interest, and underlying personality traits), I have verified recent work by Haider-Markel and Joslyn (2008) that ideological and religious predispositions frame Americans’ understanding of homosexuality, but that partisanship also plays a significant conditioning role. Although I had anticipated that personality traits would have more impact on both views of the etiology of homosexuality and particular gay rights issues, these character measures display only inconsistent and marginal direct effects, doing little to improve model fit or provide additional insights into public attitudes.