Pre-Service Teachers’ Causal Attributions about FASD and Their Teaching Self-Efficacy

• Author / Creator

  Atkinson, Erin M.

• Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) often display complex problem behaviours in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine how pre-service teachers’ attributions about the problems associated with FASD relate to their self-efficacy for working with affected children. Data were collected in the fall of 2009 and 2011 from 157 pre-service teachers studying at a Western Canadian University. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analyses to determine the extent to which four predictor variables (locus of causality, stability, personal control, and external control) predicted self-efficacy. Results revealed that stability and external controllability were significant predictors of teachers’ self-efficacy in working with children with FASDs. The extent to which a teacher expects to implement interventions for these children in the classroom also predicted self-efficacy. Results are discussed in relation to the development of an attributional retraining program to correct misattributions about FASD and foster teacher self-efficacy.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Teacher Self-Efficacy
  • Educational Psychology
  • Attribution Theory
  • Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
  • Attributions

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R34F0K

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.