The role of work-related causal attributions in occupational crisis

The role of work-related causal attributions in occupational crisis states was examined. Participants were 66 Finnish women (25-45 years old) attending vocational counseling. Measures for occupational crisis and work-related causal attributions were developed. The locus, stability, controllability, and recurrence of the causes were examined in seven positive and seven negative work-related events. Participants in a state of occupational crisis emphasized stable-external and recurrent-external attributions in negative events, whereas participants not in crisis used nonrecurrent attributions combined with internal, unstable, and controllable attributions. Attributions were activated regardless of occupation, age, or education level. Among the background variables, non-person-centered occupations and organizational changes were related to occupational crises.