ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS

This study ascertains how positive and negative life events are viewed by stigmatized youngsters. The causal attributions of a sample of 139 at-risk African American adolescents are analyzed in a doubly multivariate repeated measures design. These students were participants in either the federally funded Summer Training and Education Program or the Student Academic and Leadership Enhancement Program funded by the Detroit Compact. Previous research on these students indicated that they have higher than norm global self-concepts and their locus of control is more external than would be expected for their age. The findings of the current study suggest that the attributions these youngsters ascribed to positive events were significantly more internal, stable, and global than the attributions for negative events. An ancillary outcome of this study is to report psychometric information regarding the use of The Attributional Style Questionnaire.

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Narcissism and Causal Attribution

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1997.80.1.171 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 80 (1) ◽

pp. 171-178 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Ellen R. Ladd ◽

M. Cay Welsh ◽

William F. Vitulli ◽

Elise E. Labbé ◽

Joseph G. Law

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Attributional Style ◽

Causal Attribution ◽

Personality Inventory ◽

Negative Events ◽

Positive Events ◽

Narcissistic Personality ◽

Narcissistic Personality Inventory ◽

Attributional Style Questionnaire ◽

The Relationship

This study examined the relationship between scores on narcissistic personality traits and causal attributions to positive and negative events. 119 undergraduate students in psychology as participants completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-40, the Attributional Style Questionnaire, and several Self-referencing Closed-ended Vignettes. Analyses indicated that men who scored higher on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-40 made more internal and stable attributions to positive events and more external and unstable attributions to negative events than did men who scored lower on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-40. Also scores on the Self-referencing Closed-ended Vignettes correlated significantly and positively with the Attributional Style Questionnaire, providing evidence for the validity of the vignettes.

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Explanations for Positive and Negative Events Among Heavy and Moderate College Drinkers

Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy ◽

10.1891/0889-8391.3.4.291 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 291-297

Author(s):

Kevin J. Corcoran ◽

Paige E. Thielbahr

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Attributional Style ◽

Depressed Mood ◽

Explanatory Style ◽

Negative Events ◽

Positive Events ◽

Moderate Drinking ◽

Attributional Style Questionnaire ◽

College Drinkers ◽

The Relationship

This study examined the relationship between explanatory style for positive and negative events in heavy- and moderate-drinking college students. Results indicate no difference between the two drinking groups in explanations for negative events; however, hearvier-drinking subjects did tend to have more global and stable explanations for positive events. In addition, those subjects attached more importance to positive events. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of such a style in avoiding depressed mood. Also discussed is the potential for changing such a belief pattern and the possible implications for the use of the Attributional Style Questionnaire with populations other than those who are depressed.

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Attributional style and delusions: an investigation based on delusional content

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(97)86371-7 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

HM Sharp ◽

CF Fear ◽

D Healy

Keyword(s):

Attributional Style ◽

Causal Attributions ◽

Self Esteem ◽

Primary Role ◽

Negative Events ◽

Persecutory Delusions ◽

Positive Events ◽

Attributional Style Questionnaire ◽

Attributional Biases

SummaryIndividuals with persecutory delusions have been reported to make external and stable attributions for negative events and to have a tendency towards internal attributions for positive events. It remains unclear whether this abnormality is present in individuals with non-persecutory delusions. Using the Attributional Style Questionnaire, we assessed the attributional style of 19 individuals with persecutory or grandiose delusions (PG), 12 individuals whose delusional beliefs were non-persecutory and non-grandiose (NPG) and 24 controls. The PG group displayed externality in their causal attributions for bad events but those in the NPG group did not differ from controls. Both deluded groups were significantly more stable in their attributions for bad events in comparison to controls. Such findings argue against a primary role for attributional biases in the genesis of delusions, although a role in shaping delusional content and maintaining the disorder and a role for external attributions in defending against reductions in self-esteem cannot be excluded.

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Attributional Style and Self-Efficacy in Singaporean Adolescents

Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling ◽

10.1017/jgc.2012.1 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 82-101 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lay See Yeo ◽

Kayce Tan

Keyword(s):

Attributional Style ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Personal Responsibility ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Negative Events ◽

Self Regulated Learning ◽

Adolescent Students ◽

Attributional Style Questionnaire ◽

Lower Ability ◽

Academic Self Efficacy

This investigation examined the relationship between adolescent students’ attributional style and their perceived academic self-efficacy using the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) (Seligman et al., 1984) and Multidimensional Scales of Perceived Self Efficacy (Bandura, 1989). Attributional style, defined as the way in which people explain events (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978), is represented by three dimensions: permanence, pervasiveness, and personalisation. Statistically significant differences were observed between attributional style for gender and academic streams. Females were more optimistic and hopeful than males. They attributed permanence to good events, but assumed personal responsibility for bad events. Males displayed a more negative attributional style, perceiving negative events as permanent and pervasive. Higher-ability students reported greater optimism about their future compared to their lower-ability students. No gender and ability differences were found for academic self-efficacy. Students’ attributional style was positively associated with their efficacy for self-regulated learning. Findings were interpreted in terms of educational implications and student empowerment, with suggestions made for future studies.

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Attributional Style and Depression in Multiple Sclerosis

International Journal of MS Care ◽

10.7224/1537-2073.2012-021 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 81-89 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Gray A. Vargas ◽

Peter A. Arnett

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

General Population ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Attributional Style ◽

Learned Helplessness ◽

Negative Events ◽

Daily Stressors ◽

Attributional Style Questionnaire

Several etiologic theories have been proposed to explain depression in the general population. Studying these models and modifying them for use in the multiple sclerosis (MS) population may allow us to better understand depression in MS. According to the reformulated learned helplessness (LH) theory, individuals who attribute negative events to internal, stable, and global causes are more vulnerable to depression. This study differentiated attributional style that was or was not related to MS in 52 patients with MS to test the LH theory in this population and to determine possible differences between illness-related and non-illness-related attributions. Patients were administered measures of attributional style, daily stressors, disability, and depressive symptoms. Participants were more likely to list non-MS-related than MS-related causes of negative events on the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and more-disabled participants listed significantly more MS-related causes than did less-disabled individuals. Non-MS-related attributional style correlated with stress and depressive symptoms, but MS-related attributional style did not correlate with disability or depressive symptoms. Stress mediated the effect of non-MS-related attributional style on depressive symptoms. These results suggest that, although attributional style appears to be an important construct in MS, it does not seem to be related directly to depressive symptoms; rather, it is related to more perceived stress, which in turn is related to increased depressive symptoms.

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Attributional style and depression

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.bp.107.038711 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 192 (4) ◽

pp. 275-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Harriet A. Ball ◽

Peter McGuffin ◽

Anne E. Farmer

Keyword(s):

Risk Factor ◽

Attributional Style ◽

Mood State ◽

Familial Risk ◽

Control Group ◽

Negative Events ◽

Regression Analyses ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Recurrent Depression ◽

Attributional Style Questionnaire

BackgroundFew studies have examined whether attributional style (an individual's explanation of why events happen) is a genetically influenced vulnerability factor for depression.AimsTo investigate whether attributional style is an enduring vulnerability trait for recurrent depression.MethodAs part of the Cardiff Depression Study, we interviewed 108 people with depression and their siblings, and a control group of 105 healthy individuals and their siblings, using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry and the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule. Participants also completed the Attributional Style Questionnaire.ResultsRegression analyses showed that attributional style results from mood state and is not a familial risk factor for depression. However, the tendency to internalise negative events was related to having had a prior episode of depression, suggesting a ‘scarring’ effect. Also, non-severe events were associated with one subset of optimistic attributions.ConclusionsAttributional style mainly measures current mood and does not reflect a familial risk factor for depression.

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Cumulative Risk and Physiological Stress Responses in African American Adolescents

Biological Research For Nursing ◽

10.1177/1099800417702742 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 428-439 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Wendy Kliewer ◽

Jo Lynne W. Robins

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

African American ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Physiological Stress ◽

Cumulative Risk ◽

African American Adolescents ◽

Time Of Day ◽

The Social ◽

Sociodemographic Risk

Objective: To investigate associations between components of cumulative risk (CR) and physiological stress responses in African American adolescents and evaluate emotion regulation as a mediator and sex as a moderator of these associations. Methods: Cortisol and salivary alpha amylase (sAA) were collected in adolescents ( N = 205; 55% female; 12.1 ± 1.6 years at baseline) as part of a longitudinal study of stress and adjustment in families. CR was assessed at baseline and emotion regulation was assessed at baseline and 2 years later at Wave 3 (W3) using caregiver and adolescent reports. Cortisol and sAA responses to the social competence interview were assessed at W3. Results: Repeated-measures analyses of variance predicting cortisol and controlling for time of day, adolescent age, medication usage, and pubertal status revealed significant interactions of time with both psychosocial and sociodemographic risk. In both analyses, youths with higher levels of risk showed a steeper decline in cortisol than youths with lower levels of risk. In parallel analyses predicting sAA, time interacted with psychosocial but not with sociodemographic risk. There were no interactions with sex in any of the analyses. Although CR was associated with changes in emotion regulation, there was no evidence that these changes accounted for the observed CR–stress response associations. Conclusions: These findings illustrate the potential importance of disentangling CR and suggest that additional work is needed to help explicate why and how CR is associated with specific physiological responses to stress.

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Power of Modified Brown-Forsythe and Mixed-Model Approaches in Split-Plot Designs

Methodology ◽

10.1027/1614-2241/a000124 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 9-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pablo Livacic-Rojas ◽

Guillermo Vallejo ◽

Paula Fernández ◽

Ellián Tuero-Herrero

Keyword(s):

Repeated Measures ◽

Statistical Power ◽

Mixed Model ◽

Covariance Structure ◽

Simulation Method ◽

Future Research ◽

Repeated Measures Design ◽

Fixed And Random Effects ◽

Split Plot ◽

High Level

Abstract. Low precision of the inferences of data analyzed with univariate or multivariate models of the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in repeated-measures design is associated to the absence of normality distribution of data, nonspherical covariance structures and free variation of the variance and covariance, the lack of knowledge of the error structure underlying the data, and the wrong choice of covariance structure from different selectors. In this study, levels of statistical power presented the Modified Brown Forsythe (MBF) and two procedures with the Mixed-Model Approaches (the Akaike’s Criterion, the Correctly Identified Model [CIM]) are compared. The data were analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation method with the statistical package SAS 9.2, a split-plot design, and considering six manipulated variables. The results show that the procedures exhibit high statistical power levels for within and interactional effects, and moderate and low levels for the between-groups effects under the different conditions analyzed. For the latter, only the Modified Brown Forsythe shows high level of power mainly for groups with 30 cases and Unstructured (UN) and Autoregressive Heterogeneity (ARH) matrices. For this reason, we recommend using this procedure since it exhibits higher levels of power for all effects and does not require a matrix type that underlies the structure of the data. Future research needs to be done in order to compare the power with corrected selectors using single-level and multilevel designs for fixed and random effects.

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