THE ROLE OF ATTRIBUTIONS IN THE COGNITIVE APPRAISAL OF WORK-RELATED STRESSFUL EVENTS - AN EVENT-RECORDING APPROACH

This paper describes a micro-analysis of the cognitive appraisal of da ily stressful events in a sample of correctional officers (COs). More specifically, the authors examined whether three attribution dimension s mediated the relationship between the occurrence of stressful events and the 'significance' of these events, and whether the latter functi oned as a mediator between the attribution dimensions on the one hand and negative affect (outcome variable) on the other. Convincing indica tions were found for the mediating role of the 'significance' of a str essful event, while weak indications were found for the mediating role of the attribution dimensions. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of daily event-recording methods are discussed at length.