"If I don't do well tomorrow, there's a reason": Predictors of adolescents' use of academic self-handicapping strategies.

1996/09/01 by Carol Midgley, Revathy Arunkumar, Timothy C. Urdan · 294 citations
Psychology · #Academic achievement #Developmental psychology #Education, Achievement, and Giftedness #Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation #Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies #Psychology

paper · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.88.3.423

published in Journal of Educational Psychology 88(3), 423-434 (American Psychological Association)

openalex publication_date 1996/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

It has been suggested that some students procrastinate, fool around, reduce effort, and use other self-handicapping strategies so that if subsequent performance is low, these circumstances will be seen as the cause. Surveys were given to 112 8th graders. The handicapping items formed a single factor with good internal consistency. Handicapping was positively associated with self-deprecation, negative attitudes toward education, ego-oriented goals, and low grades. There was a significant interaction between race and both ego-oriented goals and negative attitudes. The relation between ego-oriented goals and handicapping was stronger for African Americans than for European Americans, whereas the relation between negative attitudes and handicapping was stronger for European Americans than for African Americans. Path analysis revealed that handicapping mediated the relationship between negative attitudes about education and grade point average.

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