Attributional Style For Positive Events Research Articles

РУССКОЯЗЫЧНАЯ ВЕРСИЯ ОПРОСНИКА СПОСОБНОСТИ К СМАКОВАНИЮ ПОЗИТИВНЫХ СОБЫТИЙ

Objective. Th e present study aimed to validate the Russian version of the SBI and determine its factorial structure. Method. Th e participants were 490 adults mainly from Moscow. Th e following measures were used: the Russian version of the SBI, the life orientation test, the attributional style questionnaire, the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, the gratitude scale, the positive and negative aff ect scale, the satisfaction with life scale, the subjective happiness scale, and the Riff ’s scale of psychological well-being. Results. Confi rmatory factor analysis has supported the theoretically expected three-factor structure of the measure. Th ree factors of savoring the moment, anticipation and reminiscence were moderately related. Th e validity of the methodology is confi rmed by correlations of savoring with indicators of psychological well-being, happiness, dispositional optimism, optimistic attributional style for positive events, gratitude, positive aff ect, life satisfaction and self-esteem. All three subscales of savoring and total savoring score showed high level of internal consistency. Th e convergent and structural validity of the method was proved. Conclusion. Th e study showed that the Russian version of the SBI is a valid and reliable instrument to assess savoring ability both in total and in three aspects of the past, present and future.

Pessimistic attributional style for positive life events as a predictor of low mental health in russian sample

IntroductionAttributional style (AS) indicates cognitive dispositions for explaining positive and negative events. People with pessimistic АS explain failure with stable and global causes. Previous studies and meta-analyses (Hu et al., 2015; Peterson et al., 1985; Zhang et al., 2014) showed that pessimistic AS for failures is a reliable predictor of depression and ill-being, but the possible mediators of such relations are understudied.ObjectivesOur main objective was to analyse relations of pessimistic AS for success and failure with mental health. We hypothesized that pessimistic AS would be a predictor of low mental health mediated by self-esteem, dispositional optimism, and gratitude.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 261 adults (MA=32.09, SD=12.53, 13% male) using a 24-item attributional style questionnaire (SFASQ, Gordeeva et al., 2009), mental well-being scale (Tennant et al., 2007), self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965), gratitude questionnaire (McCullough et al., 2002), and LOT (Scheier, Carver, 1985).ResultsA path model of effects of pessimistic AS in positive and negative situations on mental ill-being was developed. The model with three mediators fits the data very well: CFI=0.990; RMSEA=0.048. The pessimistic attributional style for positive events was a significant predictor of mental ill-being mediated by self-esteem, dispositional optimism, and gratitude while the indirect effect of pessimistic AS for failures on mental ill-being (controlling for age) was not significant.ConclusionsOnly the pessimistic AS for successes but not for failures was a significant predictor of mental ill-being which underline the importance of stable and global attributions of positive life events for mental health.

Optimistic Attributional Style as a Predictor of Well-Being: Exploring the Mediating Roles of Gratitude and Savoring the Moment.

The construct of attributional style refers to the specific ways people explain events, both positive and negative. An optimistic attributional style (OAS) for negative events has been shown to be reliably associated with low rates of depression (Peterson et al., 1985; Sweeney et al., 1986; Hu et al., 2015). On the contrary, an optimistic attributional style for positive events is a separate phenomenon associated mainly with well-being, but these relationships remain underexplored. This study aimed to explore the predictive power of OAS-Positive, its relationships with subjective well-being, and possible personality mediators related to positive functioning. We hypothesized that the abilities to feel grateful and savor positive life events mediate the relationship between optimistic thinking about positive outcomes and subjective well-being. A cross-sectional design was implemented. The participants were 271 adults from Moscow and Moscow Region (M age = 32.42, SD=12.9). The results of regression analysis showed that both life satisfaction and subjective happiness depended on gratitude, self-esteem, and dispositional optimism, but only happiness was predicted by savoring the moment. The results of structural equation modeling were consistent with the hypothesis since the structural model revealed that the effects of OAS-Positive on subjective well-being were fully mediated by gratitude and savoring the moment, as well as self-esteem and dispositional optimism. The mediated effects of OAS-Negative through self-esteem and gratitude were inconsistent, and its total indirect effect on subjective well-being was not significant. This research provides preliminary evidence that optimistic thinking about positive life events promotes subjective well-being through a system of positive psychological traits and attitudes which include gratitude and savoring the moment.

Linking academic performance to optimistic attributional style: attributions following positive events matter most

Optimistic attributional style has been shown to be reliably associated with high well-being and low depression and (Hu et al., Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 34(4): 304–321, 2015). Via both a meta-analysis and two new studies, we examine the relationship between optimistic attributional style for explaining negative and positive events, and academic performance. In the meta-analysis, dispositions to make stable and global attributions for positive events were more strongly related to academic achievement (d = 0.21, k = 30, N = 6351) than dispositions to make unstable and local attributions regarding negative events (d = 0.11, k = 66, N = 11,023). Academic level (primary school vs secondary school vs university) and type of test (general vs achievement-specific) were shown to moderate the associations. The two new studies were designed to address the remaining questions. In both studies, optimistic attributional style for positive events most reliably predicted student academic achievement, including boosted achievement over time. Possible explanations for the moderator effects are discussed, and recommendations for future research as well as practical recommendations are provided.

Indirect Effects of Attributional Style for Positive Events on Depressive Symptoms Through Self-Esteem During Early Adolescence.

Research on adolescent depression has overwhelmingly focused on risk factors, such as stressful negative events and cognitive vulnerabilities, but much important information can be gained by focusing on protective factors. Thus, the current study aimed to broaden understanding on adolescent depression by considering the role of two positive elements as protective factors, attributional style for positive events and self-esteem, in a model of depression. The sample included 491 middle school students (52% female; n=249) with an age range from 12 to 15years (M=13.2, SD=.70). The sample was ethnically/racially diverse, with 55% White, 22% Hispanic, 10% Asian American, 3% African American, and 10% Biracial/Other. Correlational analyses indicated significant cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between an enhancing attributional style (internal, stable, global attributions for positive events), self-esteem and depressive symptoms. Further, prospective analyses using bootstrapping methodology demonstrated significant indirect effects of an enhancing attributional style on decreases in depressive symptoms through its effects on self-esteem. These findings highlight the importance of considering attributional style for positive events as a protective factor in the developmental course of depressive symptoms during early adolescence.

Do Personality-Like Risk Factors for Bipolar and Unipolar Mood Disorder Predict Attributional Style?

There is evidence that trait-like factors such as personality style may serve as risk factors for affective disorder. According to the Revised Hopelessness Theory, a specific attributional style for negative events is also a risk factor for unipolar depression and may be relevant for bipolar disorder as well, according to recent research. Furthermore, the equivalent attributional style for positive events may be a risk factor for mania. Until now, however, little was known about the associations between such vulnerability factors; therefore, this study investigates whether personality-like traits related to “hypomanic personality” and rigidity may also act as vulnerability factors for attributional style. Using a 2-year prospective design we found that, in young adults (n = 196), risk for bipolar disorder predicted more stable and global attributions for positive events and expectations of more positive consequences from such events. In contrast to our predictions, rigidity did not predict a depressogenic...

Positive attributional style, life events and their effect on children's mood: Prospective study

The present study extended previous research into the role of cognitive style in predicting depressive symptoms in children by examining positive attributional style for positive events in a prospective manner, with a focus on the influence of prior life experience. A non-clinical sample of 102 children (aged 10–12 years) was recruited. Participants completed self-report measures of depression, attributional style, stressful life events, and positive life events on two occasions (approximately 6 months apart). Positive attributional style for positive events moderated the relationship between negative life events and follow-up depressive symptoms. Number of positive events did not significantly moderate the negative life events–depression symptoms relationship although there was a trend in the expected direction. Positive attributional style for positive events appeared to act as both a mediator and moderator in the positive events–depression symptoms relationship. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Attributional Style as a Mediator Between Parental Abuse Risk and Child Internalizing Symptomatology

This study examined a model wherein children's attributional style mediates the relationship between parental physical child-abuse risk and children's internalizing problems. Using structural equation modeling, three indices of abuse risk were selected (child abuse potential, physical discipline use, and dysfunctional parenting style) and two indices of children's internalizing problems (depression and anxiety). The sample included 75 parent-child dyads, in which parents reported on their abuse risk and children independently completed measures of depressive and anxious symptomatology and a measure on their attributional style. Findings supported the model that children's attributional style for positive events (but not negative events) partially mediated the relationship between abuse risk and internalizing symptoms, with significant direct and indirect effects of abuse risk on internalizing symptomatology. Future directions to continue evaluating additional mediators and other possible contextual variables are discussed.

Attributional Style in Work Settings: Development of a Measure

We developed the Work Attributional Style Questionnaire to assess one's attributional propensities in work settings. In Study 1, a tendency to attribute positive events to internal, stable, global, and controllable causes was associated with positive work adjustment (i.e., low helplessness and depression). Study 2 revealed similar results; however, a factor structure comprised of only 2 dimensions (controllability/internality and stability/globality) was evident. Attributional style for positive events was a marginally significant predictor of work adjustment in Study 2. When fitted to Study 1 data, the revised Study 2 model fit the data well. Positive attributional style was a significant predictor of work adjustment and negative attributional style was marginally significant.

Attributional style in psychosis—The role of affect and belief type

People holding persecutory beliefs have been hypothesised to show a self-serving attributional style, which functions to protect self-esteem Bentall, Corcoran, Howard, Blackwood, and Kinderman (2001). Experimental support for this has been mixed. Freeman et al. (1998) suggested depressed and grandiose subgroups of those with persecutory beliefs might explain events differently. In this study, 71 participants completed measures of delusional beliefs, depression and attributional style. We hypothesised that those with persecutory beliefs would form grandiose and depressed subgroups, and that a self-serving attributional style would characterise only the grandiose subgroup. Hypotheses were partially confirmed. Clear subgroups were evident and only those with both persecutory and grandiose beliefs showed an externalising attributional style for negative events. Depression, irrespective of co-occurring persecutory beliefs, was related to a reduced self-serving bias and an externalising attributional style for positive events. On their own, persecutory beliefs were not related to any particular attributional style. Depressed and grandiose subgroups of those with persecutory beliefs might account for some of the inconsistencies in the attribution literature. Even within a single symptom group, care should be taken in both research and therapy to consider individual symptom patterns.

Reducing hopelessness: the interation of enhancing and depressogenic attributional styles for positive and negative life events among youth psychiatric inpatients

A recovery model of depression (Needles & Abramson, 1990 Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 99, 156-165) proposes that depressed individuals who exhibit an enhancing attributional style for positive events (i.e. make stable, global attributions) will be more likely to regain hopefulness and, thereby, recover from depression when positive events occur. While only a few studies have directly tested this model among clinical and nonclinical adult samples, none have tested a clinical sample of children and adolescents. Furthermore, prior studies testing this model have failed to examine the interactive role of an ‘enhancing attributional style’ for positive events with a ‘depressogenic attributional style’ for negative events, as prescribed by the hopelessness theory of depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989 Psychological Review, 96, 358-372). The current study presents data demonstrating that depressogenic and enhancing attributional styles interact to predict differential decreases in hopelessness. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research also are presented.

The relationship between attributional style, gender and the Five-Factor Model of personality

The Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality has taken a pre-eminent position among factorial descriptions of personality but has been criticised for its largely atheoretical basis. In response it has been suggested that the FFM reflects underlying cognitive–affective systems. Attributional style is one of a number of such systems and has been shown elsewhere to be related to a number of well-established factors of personality but with apparently different patterns for men and women. This study examined the relationship between attributional style as assessed by the Attributional Style Questionnaire, gender, and the FFM Mini-Markers. The patterns of correlations between ASQ scales and FFM dimensions appeared different for men and women, and three significant gender interactions were observed using multiple regression. Both internal attributional style for positive events and overall attributional style interacted with gender to predict openness, and hopefulness interacted with gender to predict extraversion. Similarities and differences between these findings and those reported elsewhere are discussed. It is suggested that further research exploring the cognitive–affective basis for the FFM is justified and that caution should be used in application of the FFM within applied settings.

Attributional style for negative events: A proposition for a more reliable and valid measure of attributional style

This study examines the concept of attributional style, first by testing Seligman's (1990) assumption that attributions for positive and negative events do form a single dimension; second by challenging the cross‐situational consistency of the causal dimension of internality; and third by investigating the reliability and validity of negative stability and globality as measures of pessimism and confidence. The results supported the hypothesis that attributional style for positive events and attributional style for negative events should be considered as orthogonal variables and that the dimensions of internality (positive and negative) are not consistent across situations. Finally, even though both negative stability and negative globality were shown to be reliable measures, only negative globality was proven to be a valid measure of pessimism and confidence.

Inferences about the self, attributions, and overgeneralization as predictors of recovery from dysphoria

Based on a model of recovery from depression drawn from hopelessness theory (Needles & Abramson, 1990), we expected that in the presence of favorable events, cognitive style would predict the development of hope, and thus recovery from dysphoria. Among 91 subjects initially scoring 9 or above on the Beck Depression Inventory, a stable, global attributional style for positive events, in the presence of positive events, tended to predict recovery by a 3-week followup assessment. However, contrary to our prediction, inferring positive characteristics about the self from the occurrence of good events was associated with more subsequent depressive symptoms. An exploratory measure of overgeneralization of negative events predicted more subsequent symptoms.

Coping, Androgyny, and Attributional Style

To examine the impact of androgyny and attributional style on coping ability, a demographic questionnaire, the Zeitlin Coping Inventory, the Bem Sex-role Inventory and the Attributional Style Questionnaire were completed by 301 first-year students at the University of Stellenbosch. It was found that androgynous female subjects displayed significantly better coping abilities than female subjects with feminine, masculine, or undifferentiated sex-role orientations. No significant difference was found between coping abilities of androgynous and masculine male subjects, although both androgynous and masculine males showed significantly better coping abilities than males with feminine or undifferentiated sex-role orientations. Regarding a specific aspect of coping, namely flexibility of coping style, both male and female subjects with androgynous sex-role orientations displayed significantly more flexibility in their coping styles than subjects of any other sex-role type. Regarding attributional style, a significant positive correlation was found between good coping ability and an internal, stable, and global attributional style for positive events. A significant positive correlation was likewise found between good coping ability and an external, unstable, and specific attributional style for negative events. The conclusion was drawn that androgyny and an adaptive attributional style served as important coping resources.

Positive life events, attributional style, and hopefulness: Testing a model of recovery from depression.

A model of a recovery process from depression that is compatible with the hopelessness theory of depressive onset is proposed. This model predicts that depressives who have an enhancing attributional style for positive events (i.e., make global, stable attributions for such events) will be more likely to regain hopefulness and, thereby, recover from depression, when positive events occur. This prediction was tested by following a group of depressed college students longitudinally for 6 weeks. Although neither positive events alone nor attributional style alone predicted reduction in hopelessness, depressives who both showed the enhancing attributional style for positive events and experienced more positive events showed dramatic reductions in hopelessness which were accompanied by remission of depressive symptoms. Thus, attributional style for positive events may be a factor that enables some depressives to recover when positive events occur in their lives.

Attributional style of depressed chronic low back patients.

This study used the Attributional Style Questionnaire to study the attributional styles of depressed and nondepressed chronic low back pain patients (N = 91) in order to test the Revised Learned Helplessness model's prediction of differences between the two. The results partly supported the hypothesis; an internal, stable, global style for negative events distinguished the depressed group from the nondepressed, but there were no differences in attributional style for positive events. The findings are consistent with recent reviews of the literature that have reported general support for the negative outcome style, but consistent failure to confirm the predictions associated with positive outcome style. In addition, the attributional style was not common to all subjects in the depressed group, which suggested that other factors may be involved in the development of different subtypes of depression. Implications for studying attributional aspects of depression and chronic low back pain are discussed.

Attributional Style and Its Relationship to Self-Esteem and Academic Performance in Black Students

The types of casual attributions made regarding successful and unsuccessful life events are related to a number of variables including depression and self-esteem. High self-esteem individuals tend to internalize their success outcomes and externalize their failure outcomes more than do low self-esteem individuals. The objective of this exploratory study was to investigate the relationship between attributional style and self-esteem and attributional style and academic performance in Black high school and college students. The results indicated that an internal attributional style for negative events was negatively associated with self-esteem. A stable attributional style for negative events was negatively associated with academic performance. An internal attributional style for positive events was negatively associated with academic performance. It was concluded that attributional style can be useful for understanding self-esteem and academic performance in this population.

Attributional Style and Its Relationship to Self-Esteem and Academic Performance in Black Students

The types of casual attributions made regarding successful and unsuccessful life events are related to a number of variables including depression and self-esteem. High self- esteem individuals tend to internalize their success outcomes and externalize their failure outcomes more than do low self-esteem individuals. The objective of this exploratory study was to investigate the relationship between attri butional style and self-esteem and attributional style and academic performance in Black high school and college students. The results indicated that an internal attributional style for negative events was negatively associated with self-esteem. A stable attributional style for negative events was negatively associated with academic performance. An internal attributional style for positive events was negatively associated with academic performance. It was concluded that attributional style can be useful for understanding self- esteem and academic performance in this population.