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Perceptions of Deservedness of Social Aid as a Function of Prenatal Diagnostic Testing 1
Author(s) -
Lawson Karen L.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb02074.x
Subject(s) - sympathy , attribution , blame , psychology , chose , perception , affect (linguistics) , pregnancy , sample (material) , developmental psychology , action (physics) , social psychology , clinical psychology , chemistry , communication , chromatography , neuroscience , biology , political science , law , genetics , physics , quantum mechanics
This study examined whether judgments of deservedness of social aid subsequent to the birth of a disabled child vary as a function of prenatal diagnostic testing (PDT) use as predicted by the attribution‐affect‐action model (Weiner, 1980). A sample of family physicians/obstetricians ( n = 341) and a university employee sample ( n = 281) made attribution ratings in 3 scenarios in which an at‐risk pregnant woman gave birth to a disabled child. The findings indicate that women who chose not to use PDT or who chose to continue the pregnancy following a diagnosis were judged more responsible, more to blame, and less deserving of both sympathy and social aid subsequent to giving birth to a disabled child than were women to whom testing was not made available.