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Academic persistence and attributional style in fifth graders
Author(s) -
Cooley Eric,
Beaird James,
Ayres Robert
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6807(199404)31:2<156::aid-pits2310310210>3.0.co;2-s
Subject(s) - persistence (discontinuity) , psychology , attribution , generalization , developmental psychology , task (project management) , style (visual arts) , reading (process) , social psychology , mathematical analysis , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , management , archaeology , political science , law , engineering , economics , history
Students' attributional styles regarding academic successes and failures were hypothesized to be moderators of persistence in academic tasks. Attributional style was assessed in 72 fifth graders using the Sydney Attribution Scale (SAS). Persistence was assessed using two behavioral measures and teacher ratings. The behavioral persistence measures involved the number of tasks attempted and time spent working on a difficult reading task and a problem‐solving task. The behavioral measures were highly correlated ( r = .74) but were unrelated to teacher‐rated persistence. Attributional style predicted teacher‐rated persistence, R 2 = .42, F (12, 59) = 3.6, p <.001, but did not predict any of the behavioral persistence measures. Results suggest that students' self‐reported attributional styles are related to teacher judgments of persistence. The lack of agreement between teacher ratings and behavioral measures of persistence may have implications for the generalization of research findings relying on either behavioral or teacher‐rated persistence measures.