Measures Of Attributional Style Research Articles

Optimism and pessimism as predictors of seizure group among patients with intractable seizure disorders

The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the Revised Optimism-Pessimism Scale (PSM-R) as a measure of attributional style, and the incremental utility of optimism and pessimism as predictors of seizure group, in an intractable seizure disorder sample. Participants included adult patients with epileptic seizures (ES; n = 151) and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES; n = 173) whose diagnoses were confirmed by prolonged video/EEG monitoring (PVEM). Optimism and pessimism scores were computed from abbreviated versions of the MMPI for all participants. Analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between optimism, pessimism, and MMPI clinical scale scores. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to generate a model for the prediction of seizure group. Results supported the validity of the PSM-R as a measure of attributional style in an intractable seizure disorder sample. Both optimism and pessimism provided significant incremental predictive utility over and above other predictors of seizure group. There are advantages of using the proposed prediction model over other alternative differential diagnostic procedures, including lower cost, greater availability, and increased standardization. Overall, results indicated that attributional style is a clinically relevant index of personality and cognitive response to stress among an intractable seizure disorder sample.

Learned helplessness attributional scale (LHAS): Development and validation of an attributional style measure

Research illustrates that attribution theory holds untapped potential for researching problems in management and social science. This potential exists partly due to the lack of a concise measurement instrument. Previous measures, though suitable for their respective tasks, each come with a set of limitations. We suggest that one of these limitations, namely psychometric issues, may be a factor inhibiting use of attribution theory in the business domain. In answer to the call to increase the use of attribution theory we create a new set of scales to provide a stable, parsimonious instrument for measuring attribution style. Twelve sections of four courses across ten semesters were used to develop the scales and test them across groups and time. The final result is a new measurement tool, the Learned Helplessness Attribution Scale (LHAS), that demonstrates solid psychometric properties.

Self-Criticism, Attribution Style, Hope, and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents

Background. Mental health problems are most commonly underreported or kept undiagnosed inthe developing countries. Manifestation of such issues during adolescence could result in long-termadverse consequences. Thus, present study attempted to explore predictive role of self-criticism,attribution style, and hope in depressive symptoms in adolescents.Method. A sample of 290 students (145 male & 145 female; aged 11-23 years) was recruited fromdifferent schools and colleges by using convenient sampling technique. The Forms ofSelf-Criticizing/ Self-reassuring Scale (FSCRS) (Gilbert et al., 2004), The Measure ofAttributional Style (Kwon & Whisman, 1992), Psychological Capital Questionnaire (Luthans et al.,2007), and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) were used to measureself-criticism, attribution style, hope, and depressive symptoms.Findings. Results revealed a significant positive relationship between self-criticism anddepression while significant negative association was found between depression and hope.Furthermore, self-criticism and hope significantly predicted depressive symptoms in adolescents.Comparison of family systems showed significant differences on hated-self, attribution style, hope,and depressive symptoms. Results revealed that individuals belonging to joint family systemexperience more hated-self, depressive symptoms, and attribute to internal causes whileindividuals belonging to nuclear family system experience more hope and attribute to externalcauses.Conclusion. The study findings highlight the role of self-criticism, attribution style, hope, anddepressive symptoms in adolescents. Thus, present study may also help in evaluating andeliminating risks associated with depressive symptoms. Teachers/parents and caregivers workingwith adolescents may also benefit from the findings of the research. Implications of the findings arediscussed.

Aggression, attributional style, and locus of control among imprisoned migrants from the former Soviet Union.

In the 1990s, over two million migrants from the former Soviet Union with German ancestry came to Germany, a small number of whom committed offences. The aim of this study is to investigate aggression, locus of control, and attributional style in these (male) migrants imprisoned in Germany. Three groups of men with German ancestry were compared: 1.36 prisoners migrating into Germany from the former Soviet Union (migrant-P), 2.31 migrating into Germany from the former Soviet Union without a history of offending (community sample; C), and 3.40 German prisoners with no migration experience (native-P). Aggression was high among all prisoners relative to nonoffending migrants. Prisoners tended to be under-achievers educationally compared with community living migrants. Imprisoned migrants had scores on locus of control and on attribution scales of feeling more influenced by fate and other external factors than had the community migrants, but in a regression model with aggression as the dependent variable and locus of control and attributional style measures as the independent variables, only external attributional style with respect to failure was significantly related to aggression. External attributional style appears to be linked to the probability of aggressive behaviours, leading to unlawful acts and imprisonment. Regardless of whether a person has a migration history or not, as attribution of failure among these relatively low-achieving prisoners was associated with aggression, loosening these attributional tendencies in therapy might help to reduce aggression. Migration per se was not problematic in these respects in this sample.

Reliability and validity of the Attributional Style Questionnaire- Survey in people with multiple sclerosis.

The current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of an attributional style measure that can be administered remotely, to people who have multiple sclerosis (MS). A total of 495 participants with MS were recruited. Participants completed the Attributional Style Questionnaire-Survey (ASQ-S) and two comparison measures of cognitive variables via postal survey on three occasions, each 12 months apart. Internal reliability, test-retest reliability and congruent validity were considered. The internal reliability of the ASQ-S was good (α > 0.7). The test-retest correlations were significant, but failed to reach the 0.7 set. The congruent validity of the ASQ-S was established relative to the comparisons. The psychometric properties of the ASQ-S indicate that it shows promise as a tool for researchers investigating depression in people with MS and is likely sound to use clinically in this population.

Relation Between Attributional Style and Subsequent Depressive Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies

This meta-analysis examined the relation between attributional style and subsequent depressive symptoms. Results were based on 52 longitudinal studies comprising 57 samples involving 12,594 participants. A moderate correlation was found between depressogenic explanatory style of negative events and subsequent depressive symptoms. Controlling for prior depressive symptoms, the weighted mean effect of prior negative attributional style on subsequent depressive symptoms was small at β = .10. The relation between attributional style and subsequent depressive symptoms was not associated with moderators including publication status, attributional style measure, depression measure, delay between assessments, mean age, participant gender, and ethnicity.

A Longitudinal Examination of the Hopelessness Theory of Depression in People Who Have Multiple Sclerosis.

Purpose. Hopelessness theory predicts that negative attributional style will interact with negative life events over time to predict depression. The intention of this study was to test this in a population who are at greater risk of negative life events, people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Method. Data, including measures of attributional style, negative life events, and depressive symptoms, were collected via postal survey in 3 phases, each one a year apart. Results. Responses were received from over 380 participants at each study phase. Negative attributional style was consistently able to predict future depressive symptoms at low to moderate levels of association; however, this ability was not sustained when depressive symptoms at Phase 1 were controlled for. No substantial evidence to support the hypothesised interaction of negative attributional style and negative life events was found. Conclusions. Findings were not supportive of the causal interaction proposed by the hopelessness theory of depression. Further work considering other time frames, using methods to prime attributional style before assessment and specifically assessing the hopelessness subtype of depression, may prove to be more fruitful. Intervention directly to address attributional style should also be considered.

Extreme Cognitions in Bipolar Spectrum Disorders: Associations With Personality Disorder Characteristics and Risk for Episode Recurrence

Bipolar spectrum disorders (BSDs) are often characterized by cognitive inflexibility and affective extremities, including “extreme” or polarized thoughts and beliefs, which have been shown to predict a more severe course of illness. However, little research has evaluated factors that may be associated with extreme cognitions, such as personality disorders, which are often characterized by extreme, inflexible beliefs and are also associated with poor illness course in BSDs. The present study evaluated associations among BSDs, personality disorder characteristics, and extreme cognitions (polarized responses made on measures of attributional style and dysfunctional attitudes), as well as links between extreme cognitions and the occurrence of mood episodes, among euthymic young adults with BSDs (n=83) and demographically matched healthy controls (n=89) followed prospectively for 3years. The relationship between personality disorder characteristics and negative and positive extreme cognitions was stronger among BSD participants than among healthy controls, even after statistically accounting for general cognitive styles. Furthermore, extreme negative cognitions predicted the prospective onset of major depressive and hypomanic episodes. These results suggest that extreme cognitive styles are most common in individuals with BSDs and personality disorder characteristics, and they provide further evidence that extreme negative cognitions may confer risk for mood dysregulation.

The use of narrative sampling in the assessment of social cognition: The Narrative of Emotions Task (NET)

Social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are well documented and related to functional outcome. Current social cognition measures are often not psychometrically validated, too heterogeneous for standardization, and focus principally on one domain of social cognition rather than the simultaneous activation of multiple domains. Also, few if any allow for personalization of stimuli and interpretation of personally evocative events. An alternative methodology that addresses these limitations is the analysis of samples of personal narratives. The present study evaluates the psychometric properties of a measure called the Narrative of Emotions Task (NET). The NET was used to assess the performance of participants with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and nonclinical controls. Use of the NET revealed significant impairments in the emotional narratives of participants with schizophrenia. Various NET indices were significantly related to current measures of theory of mind and emotion perception, as well as a social skills role-play, but were not related to measures of attributional style or clinician-rated functioning scales. Overall, the NET׳s psychometric properties justify further use of the narrative sampling method of social cognition assessment in this population.

Extreme attributions predict transition from depression to mania or hypomania in bipolar disorder

BackgroundRelatively little is known about psychological predictors of the onset of mania among individuals with bipolar disorder, particularly during episodes of depression. In the present study we investigated attributional style as a predictor of onset of hypomanic, manic or mixed episodes among bipolar adults receiving psychosocial treatment for depression. We hypothesized that “extreme” (i.e., excessively pessimistic or optimistic) attributions would predict a greater likelihood of developing an episode of mood elevation. MethodOutpatients with DSM-IV bipolar I or II disorder (N = 105) enrolled in the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD) were randomly allocated to one of three types of intensive psychotherapy for depression or a brief psychoeducational intervention. Patients completed a measure of attributional style at baseline and were followed prospectively for up to one year. All analyses were by intent to treat. ResultsLogistic regressions and Cox proportional hazards models indicated that extreme (both positively- and negatively-valenced) attributions predicted a higher likelihood of (and shorter time until) transition from depression to a (hypo)manic or mixed episode (ps < .04), independent of the effects of manic or depressive symptom severity at baseline. Extreme attributions were also retrospectively associated with more lifetime episodes of (hypo)mania and depression (ps < .05). ConclusionsEvaluating extreme attributions may help clinicians to identify patients who are at risk for experiencing a more severe course of bipolar illness, and who may benefit from treatments that introduce greater cognitive flexibility.

Attributional Style and Depression in Multiple Sclerosis

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.

Social cognition and social functioning in nonclinical paranoia

Introduction.Persons with nonclinical paranoia show many of the same biases as those with clinical paranoia, suggesting that paranoia exists on a continuum. However, little is known about the various social cognitive processes found in paranoia and how these relate to social functioning and social behaviours in general. This study will examine performance on emotion perception and attributional style measures and their relationship to social functioning, social problem solving, and social skill. A key element in this study will be the incorporation of ambiguity in the perception of emotional expressions and the assignment of attributional blame, which appears to be an important, yet neglected, construct in paranoia.Methods.Twenty-six persons with high levels of nonclinical paranoia and 31 persons with low levels of paranoia completed measures of emotion perception, attributional style, social functioning, and social problem solving. Salient and subtle emotional expressions were used to examine how ambiguity impacts emotion perception in paranoia.Results.The group high in nonclinical paranoia showed reduced accuracy for subtle negative emotional expressions and showed more perceived hostility and blame for ambiguous social situations as compared to the group low in nonclinical paranoia. Also, the high nonclinical paranoia group reported less social engagement, fewer social contacts, and more problems in social perception and social skill than the group low in nonclinical paranoia.Conclusion.Social cognitive and social functioning biases are found in persons with high levels of nonclinical paranoia. Possible mechanisms of these biases and relevance for treatment approaches are discussed.

Attributional Style and Theory of Mind in People with Alzheimer Disease and Persecutory Delusions

<h3>Objective</h3> Between 7% and 40% of people with Alzheimer disease (AD) experience persecutory delusions (PDs) during the course of their dementia. Although attributional style and theory of mind processes have been linked with PDs in people with psychosis, they have not yet been examined in those with AD and PDs. The objective of this study was, hence, to explore the role of these cognitive processes in groups of participants with AD with and without PDs, as well as a nonclinical comparison group. <h3>Method</h3> Measures of attributional style and theory of mind were administered to three groups: people with AD and PDs (n = 22), people with AD without PDs (n = 22), and a nonclinical group (n = 23). <h3>Results</h3> Although no clear differences in attributional style between the three groups were found, the group with AD and PDs were found to perform worse on the first-order (but not second-order) theory of mind task than the other two groups. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Interventions designed to enhance theory of mind skills might be beneficial for individuals with AD and PDs.

The Coping Competence Questionnaire: A measure of resilience to helplessness and depression

Based on helplessness/hopelessness theories of depression, the 12-item Coping Competence Questionnaire (CCQ) was designed to assess resilience against helplessness and depression. Evidence from a study involving 2,224 participants indicates that the CCQ is highly reliable, stable over a 1-month period, unidimensional, and internally valid. The CCQ converged negatively with measures of depression, neuroticism, and stress reaction and showed discriminant validity with a variety of other personality constructs. Compared to a measure of attributional style, the CCQ proved to be a superior predictor of depressed mood. Path models support the assumption that the CCQ buffers the effects of stress and negative life events on depressed mood and that dysfunctional coping mediates the effects of coping competence deficits on depression.

The Role of Parental and Adolescent Attributions in Adjustment of Adolescents with Chronic Illness

Previous literature has demonstrated the separate contributions of parental attributions and adolescent attributions to psychosocial adjustment of adolescents with chronic illness. However, it is unknown whether parental attributions affect adolescents' mental health directly or indirectly by influencing the youths' attributional style. This study evaluated the direct and indirect (through adolescent attributions) effects of parental attributions on internalizing and externalizing problems of adolescents with chronic illness. Adolescents (N=128; M=14.7years) diagnosed with cystic fibrosis or diabetes and their caregivers completed measures of attributional style and adolescent adjustment. Parents' optimistic attributions were associated with fewer adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. These effects were partly mediated by adolescent attributions. These results suggest that targeting both adolescent and parent attributions may be important for improving adolescents' adjustment to a chronic illness.

Children’s Attributional Style From Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence: Further Validation of the Paper-and-Pencil Versions of the Children’s Attributional Style Interview

The psychometric properties of two paper-and-pencil versions of the Children's Attributional Style Interview (i.e., CASI-I and CASI-II) were evaluated in a sample of 166 third and fourth graders and a sample of 245 sixth and seventh graders. The results demonstrated strong internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, and a factor structure that was consistent with theory in both samples. Furthermore, analyses demonstrated adequate evidence of the reliability and validity of several dimensional subscale scores and the composite measures of attributional style for both positive and negative events. These results suggest the utility of the CASI in research testing specific attributional predictions of cognitive theories of depression with the dimensional subscale scores. They further add to the literature by demonstrating item-level factor analytic support for a children's attributional style measure and the feasibility of administration sizes larger than previously tested, which add to the utility of the CASI in large-scale research designs.

Attributional biases in paranoia: The development and validation of the Achievement and Relationships Attributions Task (ARAT)

Introduction. Attributional biases, in particular a tendency to blame other people for negative events, have been reported among people with persecutory delusions and in people in the general population with subclinical paranoia. However, existing attribution measures have some shortcomings. The present study therefore describes the development and validation of a new attribution measure: the Achievement and Relationships Attributions Task (ARAT). The ARAT assesses attributional style in a range of everyday life situations related to achievement and interpersonal events, and provides a context for attributions. Each scenario has three possible causes embedded within it: internal, personal-external, and situational-external. Methods. Three hundred and fifteen healthy volunteers completed the ARAT and measures of paranoia and depression. Results. A tendency to blame other people rather than themselves was associated with high trait paranoia and multidimensional aspects of paranoid beliefs. Depression was associated with a decreased tendency to internalise success. Conclusions. The ARAT is a valid measure of attributional style in relation to paranoid ideation in a nonclinical population and has good interrater reliability.

Developmental changes in depressive cognitions: A longitudinal evaluation of the Cognitive Triad Inventory for Children.

As part of a longitudinal study, the Cognitive Triad Inventory for Children (CTI-C; N. J. Kaslow, K. D. Stark, B. Printz, R. Livingston, & S. L. Tsai, 1992) as well as other measures of cognitive style and depressive symptoms were administered annually to 3 cohorts of children starting in Grades 2, 4, and 6. Developmentally based analyses revealed 4 things: (a) The factor structure of the CTI-C changed over the course of middle childhood and then stabilized in early adolescence; (b) the CTI-C correlated significantly with measures of depression, self-perceived competence, self-worth, perceived controllability, and perceived contingency, but not with measures of attributional style; (c) 1-year stability correlations increased substantially from Grade 2 to Grade 8; and (d) the CTI-C did not generally predict self-reported depressive symptoms 1 year later. Implications emerge regarding developmental changes in the structure of children's depressive cognitions.

Subtypes of paranoia in a nonclinical sample

Introduction. Previous research has proposed that there may be subtypes of paranoia with different patterns of performance on symptom and clinical measures. However, there has been little empirical examination of whether distinct subtypes actually exist. Recent research has suggested that paranoia can be found in normal individuals and exists on a continuum. Thus, it is possible that evidence for subtypes of paranoia can be derived from nonclinical samples. Methods. From a total of 723 participants, we identified 114 college students who showed elevated levels of paranoia as determined by two measures of paranoid ideation. The remaining sample of 609 persons served as the nonparanoid control group. All participants completed measures of depression, self-esteem, and social anxiety. Scores from the high subclinical group was subjected to cluster analysis to derive homogeneous subtypes. Participants also completed a measure of attributional style, the IPSAQ, which was used to validate the subtypes and was not used in the cluster analysis. Results. Based on the cluster analysis, three subtypes were derived. Each subtype showed a different pattern of scores on measures of depression, self-esteem, and anxiety. There were also additional differences on the externalising and personalising bias scores from the IPSAQ between the subtypes. Conclusions. We conclude that there is preliminary evidence for the presence of subtypes among nonclinical samples and discuss the patterns of performance in relation to previous research on subtypes of paranoia. The implications of these subtypes for the study of paranoia are discussed.

Stability of self‐esteem in bipolar disorder: comparisons among remitted bipolar patients, remitted unipolar patients and healthy controls1

Changes in beliefs about the self are a central feature of bipolar disorder, with grandiose self-belief common in mania and low self-esteem evident in periods of depression. We investigated whether unstable self-esteem is a characteristic of bipolar disorder in remission. We compared 18 patients with DSM-IV bipolar disorder in remission, 16 patients with unipolar disorder in remission, and 19 healthy controls. The primary measure was a diary kept for one week and completed twice each day, measuring self-esteem and positive and negative affect. We also administered Winters and Neale's (J Abnorm Psychol 1985; 94: 282-290) implicit measure of attributional style. Whereas mean levels of self-esteem and affect were not abnormal in the remitted bipolar patients, the bipolar patients showed strong fluctuations in these processes. In common with the unipolar patients, they also showed a pessimistic attributional style on the Pragmatic Inference Task (PIT). Instability of self-esteem and affect is present in bipolar patients, even when their symptoms are in remission, and has previously been found in people at genetic risk of the disorder. It may be a marker of vulnerability to the disorder.