Attributional style and its relation to other personality dispositions

Background. People vary greatly with respect to the way they explain negative events (personal failures), and this variation in attributional style seems to be related to various personality traits and also academic performance. For example, the theory of learned helplessness regards a pessimistic attributional style as an important determinant in the development of depression. Aim. The primary purpose of the present study was to compare attributions far positive and negative events with respect to correlations with seven personality dispositions. The comparisons concern the three attributional dimensions internality, stability and globality, as well as their combination. The hypothesis was that attributions for positive events are differently correlated with the seven personality dispositions than are attributions for negative events. Sample. 166 advanced teacher students (132 females and 34 males). Method. On the basis of an inventory the students were given scores on the attributional variables (related to imagined positive and negative academic events), global and academic self-esteem, motive to seek success, motive to avoid failure, self-efficacy, defensiveness, and depression. Results. The hypothesis was confirmed. Attributions for positive events correlated differently with the seven personality dispositions than attributions for negative events. Also, factor analysis of the attributional dimensions indicated that attributions for positive events measured quite different components than attributions for positive events. Conclusion. The general conclusion is that both event kinds should be considered when using attributional style for predicting or explaining personality and behavioural variables.