Attributional style of African-American adolescents

This study ascertains how positive and negative life events are viewed by stigmatized youngsters. The causal attributions of a sample of 139 at-risk African-American adolescents are analyzed in a doubly multivariate repeated measures design. These students were participants in either the federally funded Summer Training and Education Program or the Student Academic and Leadership Enhancement Program funded by the Detroit Compact. Previous research on these students indicated that they have higher than norm global self-concepts and their locus of control is more external than would be expected for their age. The findings of the current study suggest that the attributions these youngsters ascribed to positive events were significantly more internal, stable, and global than the attributions for negative events. An ancillary outcome of this study is to report psychometric information regarding the use of The Attributional Style Questionnaire.