BELIEFS ABOUT CHILDREN WITH PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIOR

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of respondent gender and a diagnostic label of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on perceptions of children with ASD and their parents. A vignette about a child who met diagnostic criteria for ASD and who was exhibiting problem behaviors was provided to 184 college undergraduates (135 women, 49 men). Approximately half of the vignettes provided a label of ASD, and the other half did not. Participants rated their views about the cause of the behavior (i.e., parental or biological blame), consequences for the behavior, and how understandable the behavior was, given the circumstances. This study found that participants blamed parents less and thought that the behavior was more understandable given the circumstances when a label was provided. This study did not find any statistically significant effects for respondent gender or any statistically significant interactions.