Attributions and race are critical: perceived criticism in a sample of african american and white community participants.

Attributions and race are critical: perceived criticism in a sample of african american and white community participants.
Behav Ther. 2014 Nov;45(6):817-30
Authors: Allred KM, Chambless DL
Abstract
The current investigation had two principal goals: (a) to examine whether attributions regarding the intentions underlying criticism from one's relative predict perceived criticism from that relative and (b) to explore differences between African Americans and Whites in attributions and perceived criticism. A new measure, the Attributions of Criticism Scale, was employed in the present study to assess attributions of perceived criticism. Results showed that the attributions scale demonstrated good psychometric properties in a sample of African American (n=78) and White (n=165) community participants. As hypothesized, attributions were correlated with perceptions of criticism. When racial differences in attributions and perceived criticism were explored, results showed that African Americans made more positive attributions but also perceived more destructive criticism than Whites. No racial differences were observed on overall and constructive criticism, but there was some evidence to suggest that African Americans made more negative attributions than Whites. However, these results were inconsistent across recruitment method. Taken together, these findings suggest that positive and negative attributions are important factors in the percepti...

Source: Behavior Therapy - October 17, 2014 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Allred KM, Chambless DL Tags: Behav Ther Source Type: research