Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ)
Psychology: PersonalityReliability: composite alphas 0.50–0.753 sample items
About this scale
A measure of explanatory style — how people typically explain positive and negative events along three dimensions: internal–external, stable–unstable, and global–specific. Pessimistic explanatory style predicts depression and burnout.
Sample item(s)
“You meet a friend who compliments you on your appearance — Is the cause of the compliment internal or external?”
“You can't find a job — Is the cause stable or unstable?”
“You give a presentation that goes badly — Is the cause global or specific?”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: composite alphas 0.50–0.75. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Free for academic use; CAVE technique allows coding archival material.
Source & citation
Peterson, C., Semmel, A., von Baeyer, C., Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1982): The Attributional Style Questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 287–299.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
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