Premium
A Longitudinal Examination of African American Adolescents’ Attributions About Achievement Outcomes
Author(s) -
Swinton Akilah D.,
KurtzCostes Beth,
Rowley Stephanie J.,
OkekeAdeyanju Ndidi
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01623.x
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , developmental psychology , eleventh , african american , academic achievement , longitudinal study , social psychology , statistics , mathematics , ethnology , physics , acoustics , history
Developmental, gender, and academic domain differences in causal attributions and the influence of attributions on classroom engagement were explored longitudinally in 115 African American adolescents. In Grades 8 and 11, adolescents reported attributions for success and failure in math, English and writing, and science. In Grade 11, English and mathematics teachers rated students’ classroom engagement. Boys were more likely than girls to attribute math successes to high ability and to attribute English failures to low ability. Both genders’ ability attributions for math became more negative from eighth to eleventh grades. Grade 8 attributions of math failure to lack of ability were negatively related to Grade 11 math classroom engagement. Results illustrate the gendered nature of motivational beliefs among Black youth.