A Systematic Literature Review Identifying Dimensions of Teacher Attributions for Challenging Student Behavior

Children frequently enter elementary school unprepared for its academic and socioemotional challenges. This can lead to challenging behaviors that negatively affect students' educational experiences, put them at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), and impact relationships with teachers. Despite a large research base on student behavior, little is known about the critical role of teacher attributions, which can affect both teacher responses to challenging behavior and the acceptance of interventions. This systematic review aimed to identify dimensions used in the literature on teacher attributions for challenging student behavior in K- 5 classrooms. A search of three databases resulted in 25 peer-reviewed articles with a variety of measures that characterized teacher attributions along three dimensions: locus, controllability, and stability. Further, nearly half the articles divided the dimension of locus into four distinct factors. Implications for practitioners and future research directions are discussed.