RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CAUSAL ATTRIBUTION BELIEFS OF STUDENTS ABOUT SUCCESS AND FAILURE AND THEIR SELF ESTEEM

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between causal attribution beliefs of students and their self-esteem. The sample of the study comprised of 3614 students including 1868 male and 1746 female students studying in the 10th grade from 72 public sector schools across 6 districts (selected on the geographical basis) of Punjab. The data were collected by using two research instruments. A 5-point rating scale, Causal Attribution Beliefs Scale (CABS) was used to measure causal attributions beliefs of students. Eight attributes were included in the instrument i.e. ability, effort, strategy, interest, luck, task difficulty, parent‟s influence and teacher‟s influence. Another instrument, a 5-point rating scale, Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale (RSES) was used to measure self-esteem of the students. According to the nature of the data and to address the research questions, different statistical techniques i.e. inferential statistics like Independent Sample t- Tests, MANOVA, Pearson Product-Moment Correlations were applied. The results of the study revealed that students endorsed all given causes (ability, effort, strategy, interest, luck, task difficulty, parent‟s influence and teacher‟s influence) as a potential cause of both success and failure. Identical patterns of success were observed in mathematics and English. Both girls and boys ranked teacher‟s influence, effort and parent‟s influence as their prime causes of success in mathematics. Both male students and female students believe teacher‟s influence, effort, parent influence and ability as the primary causes of their success in English. However, there were significant differences in failure attribution patterns. Male students consider lack of effort, lack of interest and wrong use of strategy as the main causes of their failure in mathematics. Whereas, female students considered lack of effort, wrong use of strategy and task difficulty as major causes of their failure in mathematics. In the same way, male students‟ main causes of failure in English were ranked as lack of interest, lack of effort and wrong use of strategy. While female students ranked failure causes in English as lack of effort, task difficulty and wrong use of strategy. Majority of the students showed high self-esteem levels. Only 14 % of the male students and 10 % of the female students exhibited low self-esteem level. Gender difference was found in self-esteem. Girls showed higher self-esteem level than boys. Similarly, urban students showed higher self-esteem level than rural students and science students showed higher self-esteem level than arts students. Relationship between causal attribution beliefs of students and self-esteem was found at secondary level. A small, negative but significant correlation was found in failure attributions and self-esteem level of the students. The relationship between failure attributions in mathematics and self-esteem was found in three attributions i.e. ability, luck and parent‟s influence: whereas the relationship between failure attributions in English and self-esteem was found in five attributions i.e. ability, strategy, luck, parent‟s influence and teacher‟s influence. A small but positive correlation was found between success attributions and self-esteem level of the students. As far as success attributions in mathematics and self-esteem were concerned, four attributions i.e. ability, effort, interest and parent‟s influence were positively correlated. Similarly, relationship between success attributions in English and self-esteem was found in six attributions i.e. ability, effort, strategy, interest, parent‟s influence and teacher‟s influence. Attributional patterns are changeable and can be taught to the students. The teachers should encourage their students to the attributions of controllable causes, so that changed self-perception brings academic improvement. The teacher‟s feedback is very important in changing students‟ attributional beliefs. They must be trained in approaching their students, motivating them intrinsically and provision of suitable oral / written feedback to them so that in result students‟ desire to learn, to discover, to comprehend, to develop etc, can be flourished.