Attributions of Poverty among Social Work and Non-social Work Students

Aim To investigate how students in Croatia perceive causes of poverty and to examine the differences in attributions of poverty between students of social work, economics, and agriculture. Methods The study included 365 participants, students of social work (n = 143), economics (n = 137), and agriculture (n = 85). We used the newly developed Attribution of Poverty Scale, consisting of 4 factors, as follows: individual causes of poverty (eg, lack of skills and capabilities, lack of effort, poor money management, alcohol abuse); micro-environmental causes (eg, poor family, region, single parenthood); structural/societal causes (eg, poor economy, consequences of political transition, war); and fatalistic causes (eg, bad luck, fate, God’s will). We also used a questionnaire that measured 5 dimensions of students ’ personal values: humanistic values, family values, striving for self-actualization, traditional values, and hedonistic values. In both questionnaires, items were rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Results Students of all three faculties put most emphasis on structura