The Personal Reactions Inventory: a scale to measure depressive attributions

Assessed reliability and validity for an instrument that was designed to assess depressiform cognitions. Following the model proposed by Abramson et al. (1978) the scale was developed in order to evaluate attributions of internal vs. external responsibility, situational specificity or generality, and temporal stability or instability. Because the model also proposes that one's attributions vary as a function of the positive or negative consequences that occur in a situation, the scale varied the type of consequence to which a cause was being attributed. Initial item validation was undertaken with a sample of 17 graduate students and faculty members who rated the response alternatives. Subsequent internal validity, reliability, and convergent validity were assessed on 184 undergraduate students. The results suggest that the scale is promising for the assessment of depressiform attributions. However, a strong sex effect also was noted in some of the characteristics of attribution and suggests the need to evaluate sexual-cultural differences in attributional processes associated with depression.