Self-handicapping strategies in educational context: construction and validation of the Brazilian Self-Handicapping Strategies Scale (EEAPREJ)

Abstract Self-handicapping strategies refer to the set of choices and attitudes adopted to minimize blame for failure and increase the value of success in achievement situations. This paper aims to describe the stages of construction and the psychometric analysis of a scale to measure the self-handicapping strategies of university students. In study 1, the major steps for the construction of the scales and initial results are reported. The internal consistency indices were acceptable and the principal component analysis revealed factors with little explanation of data variance. In study 2, data from a sample of 834 students from several undergraduate courses of different Brazilian universities were subjected to exploratory factor analysis using the minimum rank factor analysis (MRFA) method and the matrix of polychoric correlations. The parallel analysis criterion for factor retention indicated the one-factor solution as the best fit to data. The importance of having a valid and reliable measure to assess self-handicapping strategies in educational contexts and the promising use of the scale in actions to improve learning in higher education are discussed.

Atribuições de causalidade, estratégias autoprejudiciais e a autopercepção de desempenho de universitários / Atribuciones causales, estrategias autoperjudiciales y desempeño autopercibido de estudiantes universitarios / Causal Attributions, Self-Handicapping Strategies and Self-Perceived Performance in Undergraduate Students

As atribuições de causalidade intrapessoais, as estraté-gias autoprejudiciais e a autopercepção de desempenho são construtos psicológicos presentes na rotina aca-dêmica e estão associados à motivação para aprender. O presente estudo investigou o funcionamento destes construtos em uma amostra de 532 estudantes brasileiros de uma universidade particular do interior de São Paulo (Midade=22.98; dp=5.12). Estes estudantes responderam os seguintes instrumentos: Escala de Avaliação das Atribuições de Causalidade para Sucesso e Fracasso Acadêmico de Universitários; Escala de Estratégias Autoprejudiciais; Questionário de Autoclassificação de Desempenho. Identificou-se que as atribuições de causalidade internas e controláveis estavam associadas ao menor uso de estratégias autoprejudiciais. Os estu-dantes mais jovens, as mulheres e aqueles com bom rendimento acadêmico apresentaram mais atribuições causais internas e controláveis e utilizaram menos es-tratégias autoprejudiciais. As atribuições causais para o sucesso e as estratégias autoprejudiciais foram pre-ditoras da autopercepção de desempenho. Sugere-se a continuidade da investigação destes construtos no ensino superior

Las atribuciones causales, las estrategias autoperjudiciales y la autopercepción del desempeño son constructos psicológicos presentes en la rutina académica y están asociadas con la motivación para aprender. Este estudio investigó el funcionamiento de dichos constructos en una muestra de 532 estudiantes de una universidad privada brasileña del interior de Sao Paulo (Medad=22.98; de=5.12). Los estudiantes respondieron los siguientes instrumentos: Escala de Atribución Causal para el Éxito y el Fracaso Académico para Estudiantes Universitarios; Escala de Estrategias Autoperjudiciales y Cuestionario de Auto-percepción del Desempeño. Se encontró que las atribuciones de causalidades internas y controlables se asocian con un menor uso de estrategias autoperjudiciales. Los estudiantes más jóvenes, las mujeres y los estudiantes con buen rendimiento académico presentaron atribuciones de causalidades internas y controlables y el menor uso de estrategias autoperjudiciales. Las atribuciones causales para el éxito y las estrategias autoperjudiciales fueron predictoras de la autopercepción del rendimiento. Se sugiere la continuidad en la investigación de estos constructos en la educación superior

Intrapersonal causal attributions, self-handicapping strategies, and self-perceived performance are psycho-logical constructs present in the academic routine asso-ciated with motivation to learn. This study investigated the functioning of these constructs in a sample of 532 Brazilian students from a private university in São Paulo State (Mage= 22.98; sd=5.12). The students answered the following instruments: the Causal Attribution Sca-le for Sucess and Academic Failure for Undergraduate Students, the Self-Handicapping Strategies Scale, and the Self-perceived Performance Questionnaire. Attri-butions of internal and controllable causes were found to be associated with less use of self-handicapping strategies. Younger students, women, and students with a high academic performance presented attributions of internal and controllable causes and less use of self-handicapping strategies. Causal attributions for success and self-handicapping strategies were predic-tors of self-perceived performance. We suggest further investigation of these constructs in higher education