The mediating effects of attributional style and event-specific attributions on postdisaster adjustment

Attributional style and event-specific internal attributions were examined as cognitive mediators for the negative effect of disaster exposure on emotional adjustment following the Northridge earthquake. The positive relation between disaster exposure and emotional sequelae was found to be mediated by ascribing to a depressogenic attributional style in which negative outcomes were attributed to internal, stable, and global causes. Ascribing to a depressogenic attributional style did not mediate the relation between PTSD symptoms and disaster exposure, thus providing some support for an attributional-style-symptom-specific relation in the context of postdisaster adjustment.