Attributions as Predictors of Coping and Distress

Attempts to predict coping, distress, and stress-related pathology with person-related variables have had only limited success. With greater attention to their controllability, focus, and place in the causal sequence, it was believed that attributions might yet prove strong predictors. Two field studies, one large (N = 679) and cross-sectional, the other small (N = 60) and longitudinal, tested this premise. Confirming hypotheses, the perceived controllability of an attribution proved essential to prediction, and attributions for coping failures proved superior to attributions for stressful events as predictors. Results also revealed a causal sequence in which attributions affected distress both directly and by influencing the choice of coping strategy. Implications for future applications of attribution theory to stress research are discussed.

[1]  J. Amirkhan Criterion validity of a coping measure. , 1994, Journal of personality assessment.

[2]  Tracey A. Revenson,et al.  The Role of Perceived Self-Efficacy, Perceived Control, and Causal Attributions in Adaptation to Rheumnatoid Arthritis: Distinguishing Mediator from Moderator Effects , 1992 .

[3]  C. Aldwin Does age affect the stress and coping process? Implications of age differences in perceived control. , 1991, Journal of gerontology.

[4]  Shirlynn Spacapan,et al.  Perceptions of Control in Vulnerable Populations , 1991 .

[5]  B. Weiner An Attributional Look at Explanatory Style , 1991 .

[6]  James H. Amirkhan,et al.  A factor analytically derived measure of coping: The Coping Strategy Indicator. , 1990 .

[7]  C. Hovanitz,et al.  Coping and attributional styles as predictors of depression. , 1990, Journal of clinical psychology.

[8]  Y. Rim Styles of attribution and of coping , 1990 .

[9]  J. House,et al.  Unemployment, reemployment, and emotional functioning in a community sample. , 1989 .

[10]  C J Robins,et al.  Attributions and depression: why is the literature so inconsistent? , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[11]  W. Schaufeli Perceiving the causes of unemployment: An evaluation of the Causal Dimensions Scale in a real-life situation. , 1988 .

[12]  J. Siegel,et al.  Attributions for negative life events and depression: the role of perceived control. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  A. Ostell,et al.  Attributional style, unemployment and mental health , 1987 .

[14]  T. Revenson,et al.  Does coping help? A reexamination of the relation between coping and mental health. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[15]  K. Holroyd,et al.  Personality and health in the 1980s: psychosomatic medicine revisited? , 1987, Journal of personality.

[16]  J. Mandel,et al.  Attributions of Blame and Responsibility in Relation to Distress and Health Behavior Change in People with AIDS and AIDS-related Complex1 , 1987 .

[17]  P. P. Heppner,et al.  Role of causal attribution in personal problem solving. , 1986 .

[18]  B. Weiner An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. , 1985, Psychological review.

[19]  P. Cleary,et al.  Screening for mental disorder among primary care patients. Usefulness of the General Health Questionnaire. , 1982, Archives of general psychiatry.

[20]  D. Russell The Causal Dimension Scale: A measure of how individuals perceive causes. , 1982 .

[21]  B. Philip,et al.  Models of Helping and Coping. , 1982 .

[22]  Paul T. P. Wong,et al.  When people ask "why" questions, and the heuristics of attributional search. , 1981 .

[23]  M. Seligman,et al.  Learned helplessness in humans: critique and reformulation. , 1978, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[24]  L. Radloff The CES-D Scale , 1977 .

[25]  L. Covi,et al.  The Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL): a self-report symptom inventory. , 1974, Behavioral science.