Negative Attributional Style and Academic Achievement: The Moderating Role of Attribution of Uncontrollability and Previous Academic Performance
Loredana Ruxandra Gherasim Diaconu
This study examined if the relationship between a negative attributional style and academic achievement was moderated by controllability attributions and previous academic performance. One hundred and eighty seven undergraduate students filled in the Academic Attributional Style Questionnaire and reported their perception of uncontrollability for negative academic evens. Academic achievement was measured at the middle and end of the semester. The results indicated that the students with a negative attributional style and midterm exam performance were significant predictors of the final course exam. The findings offer a more complex view of attributional styles and suggest that a depressive attributional style may not be uniformly harmful.
negative attributional style, attribution of uncontrollability, midterm exam performance, final exam performance
Loredana Ruxandra Gherasim Diaconu – Al. I. Cuza University, Iaşi, Romania, E-mail: gloreda@uaic.ro
