Attributional style of anxious children: Extensions from cognitive theory and research on adult anxiety

Abstract

Although the role of causal attributions in children's anxiety is important from theoretical and practical standpoints, knowledge of anxious children's attributions and incorporation of knowledge into specific treatments is quite limited. Attributional style is included in several theories of anxiety, with particular reference to external locus of control and stable attributions for negative situations. Adult literature supports a relationship between anxiety and negative attributional style, with negative attributions most strongly related to social anxiety. Additionally, the stability dimension seems most consistently related to anxiety. Although the child literature is less developed, it suggests that similar relationships may hold for child anxiety and attributional style. Further research in this area, with particular attention to the types of anxiety that are most strongly related to negative causal attributions, as well as the particular attributional dimensions that may be important for anxious children, will help guide understanding and treatment of difficulties encountered by anxious children.