The contribution of attributional style to perceived disability in rheumatoid arthritis: A longitudinal study

The current study investigated the influence of general causal attributions on self-reported physical disability over the course of 1 year in a sample of 42 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Participants completed meas ures of attributional style, pain, and disability; physician assistants com pleted objective measures of disability on two occasions, approximately 1 y ear apart. Results indicated that internal attributions for disease-unrelat ed negative events assessed at Time 1 were associated with lower perceived physical disability, whereas stable attributions for negative events were a ssociated with greater perceived physical disability 1 year later. These fi ndings are discussed in terms of behavioral and characterological self-blam e models, respectively. Implications of our findings for clinical managemen t of RA are also discussed.