Attributional style of lonely and depressed people.

Compared the attributional styles of lonely and nonlonely people and of depressed and nondepressed people in 2 studies. A questionnaire was formed, consisting of 20 hypothetical situations. Half of the situations were interpersonal, and half were not; half described successful outcomes, and half described failures. S selected an attributional alternative that best explained the outcome. The questionnaire was administered to 304 college students, along with the Beck Depression Inventory and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Results show that lonely and depressed people ascribe interpersonal failures to unchangeable characterological defects in themselves (e.g., a lack of ability). Because the prototype of a lonely person is more singularly interpersonal than is the prototype of a depressed person, it was hypothesized that loneliness would show higher correlations with the attributional style. This hypothesis was confirmed in Study 2 with approximately 200 college students. Findings were replicated using a modified version of the questionnaire. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Loneliness, self-disclosure, and interpersonal effectiveness.

Examined the relationship between interpersonal intimacy and measures of loneliness, social skills, and social activity. 150 unmarried female undergraduates were administered the Self-Disclosure Situations Survey; University of California, Los Angeles, Loneliness Scale; Social Introversion scale of the MMPI; and an activity questionnaire. Results reveal that dispositional level of self-disclosure was inversely related to loneliness and interacted with disclosure flexibility: Appropriate medium disclosure across situations was associated with lower levels of loneliness than was inappropriate disclosure. Peer and observer ratings of social skills were positively related to dispositional disclosure but not to disclosure flexibility or level of loneliness. Among lonely Ss there was a trend for disclosure flexibility to be associated with different levels of social activity. Results suggest that lonely individuals have difficulty appropriately revealing personal information in new relationships and nonstructured social situations. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational and performance deficits in interpersonal settings: The effect of attributional style.

Tested an attributional model of motivation and performance following failure. 63 college students were preselected on the basis of their attributional styles for interpersonal failures, as measured by the Attributional Style Assessment Test. Ss in the 2 preselected groups (character-style vs behavioral-style attributors) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental manipulations of attributions for failure at an interpersonal persuasion task: (a) no manipulation, (b) ability/trait manipulation (which parallels the character-style), or (c) strategy/effort manipulation (which parallels the behavior style). Subsequently, Ss engaged in a blood drive task over the telephone, trying to persuade other students to donate blood. Success expectancies, motivation, and actual performance were assessed. As predicted, Ss who made strategy-/effort-type attributions, whether by experimental manipulation or by preselection, expected more success, expected more improvement with practice, displayed higher levels of motivation, and performed better at the task than did Ss who made ability-/trait-type attributions. Implications for the treatment of such clinical symptoms as loneliness and depression are discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's perceptions of their peer experiences: Attributions, loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance.

338 3rd and 5th graders completed a sociometric questionnaire and 3 instruments designed to assess their feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, social avoidance, and their attributions for social outcomes. Results show that children's feelings and attributions varied as a function of peer status, gender, and grade. For example, compared with peers, rejected children reported higher levels of loneliness and were more likely to attribute relationship failures to external causes. Children's feelings were also significantly related to their attributions about social events. Popular, average, and controversial status children who were socially distressed exhibited a non-self-serving attributional style, whereas distressed rejected children exhibited a self-serving attributional pattern. Neglected children who were distressed exhibited elements of both of these attributional styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Importance of attributions as a predictor of how people cope with failure.

This study examined the extent to which causal attributions were predictive of depressed mood in college students who experienced a negative event. In a replication and extension of a study by Metalsky, Abramson, Seligman, Semmel, and Peterson (1982), we evaluated students' attributional style and their attributions for an examination performance in the college classroom. Additionally, an indirect probe was used to assess unsolicited attributions. Subjects were asked about their plans to prepare for the next examination in order to test for the motivational deficits predicted by the reformulated learned helplessness (RLH) model. Unlike Metalsky et al., attributional style did not predict depressed mood following a disappointing examination performance. Attributions for the particular examination performance were predictive of depressed mood for students who were disappointed in their examination performance. Few subjects, 31%, gave attributions in response to the indirect probe, and there was no support for the prediction that unexpected negative events would lead to subjects' making more attributions. Internal, stable, and global attributions for poor examination performance resulted in students making more plans to study for the next examination, a finding contrary to what is predicted by the RLH model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional style, depression, and perceptions of consensus for events.

This study examined the differences between depressed and nondepressed individuals' implicit perceptions of consensus, which may contribute to differences in their attributional styles. Subjects rated the extent to which positive, negative, and neutral events happen to themselves and to the average college student and completed measures of depth of depression and attributional style. Perceptions of consensus were highly correlated with all components of attributional style for negative and positive events. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that ratings of others explained variance in attributional style beyond that explained by ratings of the self for positive but not for negative events. Path analyses, however, indicated that the indirect path from perceptions of consensus to depression mediated through attributional style was nonsignificant for positive events, although it was significant for negative events. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of perceptions of others as precursors of attributional style and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Loneliness and patterns of self-disclosure.

The 1st study examined the hypothesis that feeling lonely is related to a self-perceived lack of self-disclosure to significant others. 37 male and 38 female undergraduates rated themselves on the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire. Analyses showed that for males and females, loneliness was significantly and linearly related to a self-perceived lack of intimate disclosure to opposite-sex friends. For females, loneliness was also associated with a perceived lack of self-disclosure to same-sex friends. The 2nd study investigated the relationship between loneliness and actual disclosure behavior. 24 lonely and 23 nonlonely Ss were paired with nonlonely partners in a structured acquaintanceship exercise. Both opposite-sex and same-sex pairs were included in the design. Postexercise ratings by partners indicated that lonely Ss were less effective than nonlonely Ss in making themselves known. Analysis of the intimacy level in the conversations showed that lonely Ss had significantly different patterns of disclosure than nonlonely Ss. The authors suggest that the self-disclosure style of the lonely person impairs the normal development of social relationships. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): reliability, validity, and factor structure

In this article I evaluated the psychometric properties of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3). Using data from prior studies of college students, nurses, teachers, and the elderly, analyses of the reliability, validity, and factor structure of this new version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale were conducted. Results indicated that the measure was highly reliable, both in terms of internal consistency (coefficient alpha ranging from .89 to .94) and test-retest reliability over a 1-year period (r = .73). Convergent validity for the scale was indicated by significant correlations with other measures of loneliness. Construct validity was supported by significant relations with measures of the adequacy of the individual's interpersonal relationships, and by correlations between loneliness and measures of health and well-being. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a model incorporating a global bipolar loneliness factor along with two method factor reflecting direction of item wording provided a very good fit to the data across samples. Implications of these results for future measurement research on loneliness are discussed.     

Cognitive style and pleasant activities among female adolescent suicide attempters.

Cognitive style and pleasant activities of 77 suicide-attempting female minority adolescents were compared with those of 2 groups of non-suicide-attempting female minority adolescents, 39 who were psychiatrically disturbed and 23 who were nondisturbed. Suicide attempters differed from other groups, even when depression and IQ were statistically controlled. They reported significantly fewer alternatives for solving interpersonal problems, were significantly more focused on problems, and were more likely to report a wishful thinking style of coping in stressful situations than were members of the nondisturbed comparison group. Across groups, depression was associated with significantly more dysfunctional attributions. Interpersonal problem-solving ability and attributional style best distinguished the suicide attempters. Results suggest using different cognitive–behavioral interventions with depressed and nondepressed minority female adolescent suicide attempters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decision style in depression: The contribution of perceived risks versus benefits.

The present study investigated the contribution of cognitive and social factors to the decision style of depressed persons. During two sessions (Times 1 and 2), depressed and nondepressed college students were asked to imagine themselves making decisions about common life situations that afforded potential benefits but that also entailed potential risks. The decision scenarios varied in content. For each situation, subjects evaluated several potential risks and benefits and indicated what decisions they would make. In both sessions and for all types of decision scenarios, the depressed assigned greater weight to risks than did the nondepressed. Furthermore, for decisions about initiating social contact and establishing intimacy, the depressed expressed a greater reluctance to take the target action than did the nondepressed, and their perceptions of risks appeared to influence their estimated decisions more strongly. The Time 2 study also revealed that most of these differences applied equally when individuals were thinking about themselves or another person. However, risk perceptions were found to contribute more to the decision style of the depressed, relative to the nondepressed, only when their thoughts were focused on themselves and not when their thoughts were focused on another person. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagined empathy and attributions concerning activity preferences of physically disabled college students.

Investigated 89 college students' attributions about the activity preferences of able-bodied vs physically disabled peers and evaluated the effects of imagined empathy on attributional patterns and attitudes toward disabled people. Ss were asked to predict the responses of either a male or a female able-bodied or wheelchair-user college student to items on a 20-item questionnaire offering choices between gregarious–nongregarious activities and between active–passive activities. Results indicate that there was considerable variability in able-bodied students' attributions about disabled peers' activity preferences. Previous contact with disabled people was unrelated either to attitudes toward disabled people or to activity preference attributions. Asking students to imagine empathy for a disabled peer was not an effective technique to change either attributional patterns or attitudes toward disabled people. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer rejection in middle school: Subgroup differences in behavior, loneliness, and interpersonal concerns.

Identifies patterns of behavior and emotional response associated with peer rejection in early adolescence. Seventh- and 8th-grade middle-school students (N?=?450) were administered positive and negative sociometric nominations, peer behavioral assessment items, a loneliness and social dissatisfaction questionnaire, and a newly developed interpersonal concerns questionnaire. Results indicated that most rejected students were aggressive or submissive, but it was the combination of aggressiveness or submissiveness with low levels of prosocial behavior that was associated with peer rejection. With regard to students' affective experiences, submissive–rejected students, when compared with average-status students, were found to report higher levels of loneliness and worry about their relations with others. Aggressive–rejected students did not differ on these dimensions from average-status students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal problems of people who describe themselves as lonely.

Major interpersonal problems (e.g., "I find it hard to trust other people") that were identified in an earlier study were grouped in the present study into semantic categories. These problems can be related to other forms of complaint, such as the form "I am (adjective)." The complaint "I am lonely," for example, seems to summarize specific interpersonal difficulties in socializing. The UCLA Loneliness Scale was used to identify 25 lonely and 45 not-lonely students who described their major interpersonal problems by performing a Q sort with a standardized set of problems. Results show that lonely people consistently reported problems of inhibited sociability. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attributional retraining on the career beliefs and career exploration behavior of college students.

Two studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of attributional retraining as a career counseling technique for college students. Participants who received the attributional retraining treatment viewed an 8-min videotape designed to foster internal, controllable, and unstable attributions for career decision making. Participants in the control groups viewed a similar videotape that lacked any reference to career-related attributions. Results revealed that participants who received attributional retraining exhibited significant changes in career beliefs and attributional style and engaged in significantly more career exploration behavior than the participants in the control groups. An evaluation of attributional retraining as a career-counseling technique for college students is provided, and ideas for further research are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental modification of attribution processes.

Attributional style is hypothesized to be a causative factor in depression vulnerability; however, no studies to date have examined whether manipulation of attributional style influences depressed mood. The purpose of this study was to determine whether computer-based cognitive bias modification (CBM) procedures could modify attributional style and influence stress vulnerability. Participants were provided with multiple training trials that were intended to promote the use of either a positive or a negative attributional style. Compared with individuals in the negative attributional style condition, individuals in the positive attributional style condition showed decreased tendency to make self-deficient causal attributions for poor performance on a difficult anagram test. Furthermore, individuals in the positive attributional style condition reported less depressed mood in response to this academic stressor. These results suggest that attributional style is not invariable and can potentially be modified with CBM approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The causality of causal attributions in depression: A cross-lagged panel correlational analysis.

The attributional reformulation of the learned helplessness model of depression proposes that causal attributions about negative outcomes play a causal role in reactive depression. This research tested this hypothesis by studying the causal role of attributions in depression in 180 college students. On 2 occasions separated by 1 mo, Ss were administered a battery of tests that included an attributional style questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. The attributional dimensions of internality, stability, and globality were correlated with depression; when the possible causal role of attributions was tested through the use of cross-lagged panel correlational analysis, the hypothesis that stability and globality attributions for bad outcomes might be causes of depression was supported. There was no support, however, for the hypothesis that internal attributions for bad outcomes are a cause of depression. Evidence was also found that unstable attributions for good outcomes may function as a cause of depression. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Franzoi and Davis.

Reports an error in "Adolescent self-disclosure and loneliness: Private self-consciousness and parental influences" by Stephen L. Franzoi and Mark H. Davis (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1985[Mar], Vol 48[3], 768-780). In this article, there was an error in Figure 2 and an error in its caption. The figure and caption are corrected in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-19892-001.) Structural equation techniques were used to test a theoretical model designed to describe the causal relations existing among loneliness, self-disclosure to peers and parents, and specific antecedent variables. 350 high school students completed the short version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale and measures of interpersonal reactivity and private self-consciousness. Results indicate a good fit between the theoretical model and the observed relations. In addition to replicating the findings of previous studies concerning the relation between self-disclosure and loneliness, results also indicate an indirect relation between private self-consciousness and loneliness via peer self-disclosure: High private self-conscious Ss' greater willingness to self-disclose to peers resulted in their feeling less lonely. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of parental variables, sex differences, and the motivational bases of self-reflection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of social network and individual difference variables to loneliness.

179 undergraduates completed a social network list, an inventory of socially supportive behaviors, the Extraversion and Neuroticism scales of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Marlowe-Crown Social Desirability Scale, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Both social network variables and individual differences measures (extraversion, neuroticism, and self-disclosure) were predictive of self-reported loneliness in Ss. Of the social network variables, the density of the network showed the strongest and most consistent relation to loneliness, with denser networks being associated with less loneliness. Both extraversion and neuroticism were correlated with loneliness. The relation of extraversion and loneliness was mediated largely by social network variable; partialing out variance attributable to the social network variables reduced the relation of extraversion and loneliness. The relation of neuroticism and loneliness, however, was not mediated by social network variables. Results support W. H. Jones's (1982) conclusion that lonely college students are not necessarily socially isolated. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative and positive cognition in depressed and nondepressed chronic-pain patients.

Examined negative and positive automatic thoughts and attributional style in 60 men (aged 21–64 yrs) who were depressed chronic-low-back-pain (CLBP) patients, nondepressed CLBP patients, or healthy controls. Ss completed measures that included the Attribution Style Questionnaire and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (S. D. Hollon and P. C. Kendall; see record 1981-20180-001). Depressed Ss exhibited significantly more negative automatic thoughts than nondepressed Ss and controls. Nondepressed Ss reported significantly more positive automatic thoughts than did depressed Ss and controls. No significant differences were found for attributional style. Different cognitive-behavioral interventions might be considered for depressed and nondepressed CLBP Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)