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Carol K. Sigelman, Nina L. Begley, The Early Development of Reactions to Peers with Controllable and Uncontrollable Problems, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Volume 12, Issue 1, March 1987, Pages 99–115, https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/12.1.99
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Abstract
In an investigation of links between the personal controllability of problems and peer's evaluations of children with problems, younger and older children heard about peers who were either wheelchair-bound, obese, learning disabled, or aggressive. They were either given no causal information, told that each problem had a controllable cause, or told that each had an uncontrollable cause. Generally, younger children were as responsive to causal information as older children were, assigning blame in proportion to responsibility. Lacking casual information, children tended to hold all but the wheelchair-bound child responsible, but with age children placed increasing emphasis on external causes and solutions to problems. Global evaluations of target children became more positive as personal responsibility and blame decreased. However, the nature of a problem was also influential, the wheelchair-bound child generally eliciting the most charitable and the aggressive child the least charitable responses.
