Construct validity of unsupportive attributional style: The impact of lifeoutcome controllability

Quality of life for individuals and their communities is greatly affected b y the degree of altruism expressed when misfortune occurs. The present stud y investigated the construct validity of an individual differences variable (i.e., unsupportive attributional style) linked to helping behaviour. Unsu pportive attributional style (i.e., the tendency to view others' misfortune s as controllable by the victims) is assessed across a number of negative l ife outcomes of others using the Reasons for Misfortune Questionnaire (RMQ) . Modest evidence of unsupportive attributional style at an intermediate le vel of situation specificity suggested an empirical examination of the situ ational referents (negative life outcomes of others) of the construct. The present study revealed large variation in the perceived causal controllabil ity of the negative life outcomes on the RMQ. Confirmatory factor analysis of RMQ data (N = 705) revealed that an excellent fit was provided by an att ributional style model that included controllable and uncontrollable situat ion-types. Thus, when perceived controllability of the negative life outcom es of others was included in the definition of unsupportive attributional s tyle, the estimation of individual differences in controllability perceptio ns was refined considerably. By linking empirically the situational referen ts for unsupportive attributional style to the construct definition, the pr esent findings demonstrated the ongoing nature of the process of construct validation. It is clear from the present findings that if systematic variat ion in the situational referents of attributional styles is unaccounted for in construct definition, individual differences in controllability percept ions (i.e., attributional style) will be underestimated.