An Individual Differences Measure of Attributions That Affect Achievement Behavior

Abstract

Attributing a negative achievement outcome (e.g., failing a test) to causes that are personally uncontrollable and stable elicits a low expectancy of future success, feelings of hopelessness in that domain, and reduced behavioral efforts to succeed. Thus, a tendency to make such attributions (i.e., dysfunctional academic attributional style ) is an individual differences variable that puts people at risk. Two studies examine the factor structure and predictive validity of the Academic Attributional Style Questionnaire (AASQ). Study 1 (using two independent samples) found that the AASQ is a factorially valid measure of functional and dysfunctional attributional styles. In Study 2, during repeated failure in an academic task, the success expectancies, hopefulness, and behavioral persistence of students with a dysfunctional attributional style were lower than those of students with a functional attributional style. These findings modify the attributional theory of achievement motivation (Weiner, 1985) by positing an individual differences moderator variable (i.e., attributional style) and extend attributional research on at-risk students.