Self-Blame Following a Traumatic Event: The Role of Perceived Avoidability
Abstract
People who have experienced a traumatic life event may blame themselves, in part, because they perceive that they could have avoided the event. A study of respondents with spinal cord injuries shows that their causal attributions for the event are distinguishable from their perceptions of avoidability, the latter frequently focusing on mutable aspects of their own behavior. Respondents with spinal cord injuries and trained raters attributed the same degree of causal significance to the respondent but differed in their assignment of blame: Respondents assumed more personal blame than raters gave them. Regression analyses suggest that a significant portion of respondents' self-blame can be attributed to their self-implicating perceptions of avoidability. The degree to which respondents believed that they could have avoided their accident predicted self-blame even after controlling for their causal attributions for the event. Implications for the study of self-blame and perceived avoidability are discussed.
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All participants reported engaging in self-blame, a mechanism designed to rationalize the events in one's life by self-questioning and self-scrutiny.
“All participants reported engaging in selfblame, a mechanism designed to rationalize the events in one's life by self-questioning and self-scrutiny (Davis et al., 1996; Janoff-Bulman, 1979).”
From “I Didn’t Feel I Was A Victim”: A Phenomenological Analysis of the Experiences of Male-on-male Survivors of Rape and Sexual Abuse (2022) · cites this paper as Davis et al., 1996
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References 51 · Cited by 94
- Authors
- Davis, C. G., Lehman, D. R., Silver, R. C., Wortman, C. B., & Ellard, J. H.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Stony Brook University (US)
- University of Calgary (CA)
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1996-06
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 557-567
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W1974768803
- Cited by
- 94
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 2.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- self-blame, traumatic events, spinal cord injury, causal attribution, personal responsibility, self-perception
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