Structure and Validity of the Attributional Style Questionnaire: A Cross-Sample Comparison

Two correlational studies were conducted to explore the relationship between the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Peterson et al., 1982) and broad measures of personality in volunteer (N = 200) and occupational (N = 100) samples. In both samples, principal component analyses of the ASQ provided evidence for an independence of (a) positive and negative attributional style (AS); (b) positive AS for affiliative and achievement-related situations; and (c) internality and stability/globality, especially for negative AS. Positive AS scales tended to correlate negatively, and negative AS scales positively, with trait anxiety, as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983); ASQ correlations with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975) scales suggested that positive AS shared little variance with broad measures of personality, but negative AS seemed to reflect general dysphoria (low extraversion, high neuroticism, and high psychoticism). The implications of these findings for structure, validity, and scoring of the ASQ are discussed.