Prior research shows wide individual differences in perception of and response to stressful life events. The present study examined the extent to which those differences could be attributable to individual differences in one's feelings of general self-efficacy or to characteristic ways of attributing causality for possible successful resolution of the problem posed. A sample of 273 undergraduate students were surveyed to ascertain their estimates of the stressfulness of four of 16 stressful life events as well as their attributions of the causality of successful resolution and the individuals' scores on the Self-efficacy Scale. Subjects' ratings of stressfulness were quite consistent regardless of the specific definition of stress used, were significantly, but at a low level, related to felt self-efficacy, and were inconsistently related to attributional characteristics. Further directions for research in the situational and individual interaction in assessing the impact of stressful events are suggested.
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