BEHAVIORAL AND CHARACTEROLOGICAL ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLES AS PREDICTORS OF DEPRESSION AND LONELINESS - REVIEW, REFINEMENT, AND TEST

The literature on self-blame and depression reveals two interrelated p roblems. First, although R. Janoff-Bulman's (1979) conceptualizations of self-blame are clear, empirical operationalization is difficult and has resulted in approaches that do not capture the richness of the co nstructs. Second, past research has produced inconsistent findings. A comprehensive literature review revealed that the inconsistencies are related to the method of assessing attributions. A correlational study designed to more accurately represent the self-blame conceptualizatio n revealed that both behavioral and characterological self-blame contr ibute uniquely to depression and loneliness. Supplementary results reg arding circumstantial attributions and regarding attributional styles for success were presented. Empirical issues regarding possible method ological refinements and effect size, as well as the value of categori cal approaches to the study of attributional style were discussed.