We describe the development and psychometric characteristics of a new version of the Attributional Style
Questionnaire (ASQ; Seligman, Abramson, Semmell, & Von Baeyer, 1979)—a version called the
Attributional Style Questionnaire for Adolescents (ASQ-A)—using 3 samples (Ns 547, 438, and 240)
of Spanish secondary school students. In Study 1, the initial pool of 87 items was reduced to 54. Study
2 further analyzed the 54 scale items and revealed that the Internality, Stability, and Globality subscale
scores had good reliability, good factorial construct validity, and satisfactory associations with maladaptive
mood ratings. In Study 3, the regression analyses showed good and specific predictive validities of
ASQ-A subscales for the attributions that the adolescents made about a particular real-life stressful
situation. Study 4 showed that over an 8-month period the changes in the Stability and Globality
subscales depended on the intensity of stressful life events experienced in this period. Overall, the studies
revealed that the new ASQ-A served as an appropriate instrument to assess attributional style in
adolescents.
