Metatraits and assessment of attributional style.

Some personality trait dimensions may not be equally applicable to all people. The degree of applicability of a given trait, or traitedness, is conceptually distinct from trait level. In this study, 3 ways of assessing traitedness--interitem variance (R. F. Baumeister & D. M. Tice, 1988), scalability (K. Lanning, 1988), and construct similarity (W. F. Chaplin, 1991)--were applied to attributional style. A nonclinical sample (N = 123) completed measures of attributional style and depressive symptoms. In a series of multiple regression analyses, none of the traitedness indicators significantly moderated the relation of attributional style with depressive symptoms. The authors discuss several methodological and conceptual explanations for these null results.