Efforts to understand mediating and maintaining factors associated with dysfunction of alcoholics have produced competing explanations and conflicting, overlapping constructs. To clarify the relationship between mental health and attributional patterns among women, the attributional patterns of alcoholic, depressed, and control females in response to hypothetical success and failure outcomes in achievement and social situations were examined. Female alcoholics (N=28) and depressed women (N=28) were compared to control subjects (N=28) of equal age, education, marital status, and income in terms of causal ascriptions and emotional reactions to the hypothetical experiences. Results indicated that females in general tended to make internal, unintentional, and unstable attributions to success and failure, and, with this population, the pattern was most debilitating in social situations. The findings suggest support for the idea that an attributional pattern distinct to most females may be characterized by a sense of responsibility for, but a lack of, continuity and control of one's experiences. (Author/NRB)