The relationship between attributional style, gender and the Five-Factor Model of personality

The Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality has taken a pre-eminent position among factorial descriptions of personality but has been criticised for its largely atheoretical basis. In response it has been suggested that the FFM reflects underlying cognitive–affective systems. Attributional style is one of a number of such systems and has been shown elsewhere to be related to a number of well-established factors of personality but with apparently different patterns for men and women. This study examined the relationship between attributional style as assessed by the Attributional Style Questionnaire, gender, and the FFM Mini-Markers. The patterns of correlations between ASQ scales and FFM dimensions appeared different for men and women, and three significant gender interactions were observed using multiple regression. Both internal attributional style for positive events and overall attributional style interacted with gender to predict openness, and hopefulness interacted with gender to predict extraversion. Similarities and differences between these findings and those reported elsewhere are discussed. It is suggested that further research exploring the cognitive–affective basis for the FFM is justified and that caution should be used in application of the FFM within applied settings.