A
Cross-Cultural Comparison of Attributional Style: Korean Versus
Scottish Mothers
E.-H.M. Park & G. Dimigen |
Korean
(N = 217) and Scottish (N =145) women were asked to report recent
stressful life events which were still unresolved at the time of
the interview. The women were either mothers in the puerperium (105
Korean, 52 Scottish) or mothers who had an adolescent child preparing
for the final school leaving examination (112 Korean, 93 Scottish).
Korean and Scottish mothers differed significantly from each other
in whom they held responsible for their child's problems (attributional
style). Korean mothers tended to blame themselves (internal attribution),
whereas Scottish mothers tended to blame other people or social settings
(external attribution). Although these results contradict the general
view that Europeans attribute more internally than Asians, an explanation
is offered for the findings relating to the different concepts of
the self in the two cultures. Key wards : attribution, cross-cultural, self-concept |