Academic self‐handicapping: Relationships with learning specific and general self‐perceptions and academic performance over time

Abstract

These results showed that ASH is a unique contributing factor in student performance outcomes, and may be particularly important after students complete the initial assessment in a course.

Self-handicapping strategies for learning of preservice teachers

“…Generally, most participants reported the use of selfhandicapping behaviors in the academic context such as procrastination, not reading theoretical texts, failure to organize study time, lack of attention in class, unconcern with school attendance and lack of effort. According to the literature, this result was expected and has important educational implications because these behaviors can affect learning and jeopardize student performance (Gadbois & Sturgeon, 2011;Leary & Shepperd, 1986;Leondari & Gonida, 2007;Schwinger & Stiensmeier-Pelster, 2011).…”

“…Unfortunately, no studies that specifically compare the frequency in the use of these self-handicapping strategies among college students of different ages were found in the literature. However, studies reveal that these behaviors occur regularly during all of the years of college education and suggest that both freshmen and seniors display behaviors that are unfavorable to their learning (Gadbois & Sturgeon, 2011;Seli et al, 2009;Smith et al, 2009). Given the importance of a more precise analysis to develop proposals for psycho-pedagogical intervention to aid these students, we recommended that further studies investigate the use of self-handicapping strategies in academic context based on equivalent samples of students by age group and course year as well as students from different fields of knowledge, such as exact and biological sciences.…”

“…The second type includes students' claims regarding the impediments they will face in performing the task, such as the many other commitments in addition to college that prevent them from studying or simply because they are too nervous to take a test. Although similar, these two types of strategy differ in terms of the harm to academic performance and are related to external judgment (Gadbois & Sturgeon, 2011;Hirt et al, 1991;Leary & Shepperd, 1986). …”

An examination of the self-referent executive processing model of test anxiety: control, emotional regulation, self-handicapping, and examination performance

“…Furthermore, test anxiety is enhanced by metacognitive beliefs (e.g., worry is uncontrollable and low confidence in one's cognitive capacities such as memory) and a high degree of metacognitive monitoring (Matthews et al 1999;O'Carroll and Fisher 2013). Maladaptive situational interactions are shown in negative correlations shown between exam-related worry and effort (e.g., Komarraju and Nadler 2013;Pekrun et al 2004; studies 3 and 6), positive correlations between test anxiety and procrastination (Gadbois and Sturgeon 2011), helpless attributional style (Bandalos et al 1995;Cassady 2004), and an attentional bias towards threat stimuli (Putwain et al 2011).…”

Self-Regulated Learning in Students of Pedagogy1

“…Underlying these behaviors is a belief in the subject's own inability. By unconsciously believing he/she can fail, the student employs strategies which can undermine the achievement of their academic goals (Gadbois & Sturgeon, 2011;McCrea & Flamm, 2012;Pattal, Awad, & Cestone, 2014). Thus, they increase the chances of failing, however, these self-handicapping behaviors function as excuses that protect their self-image, with the failure being attributed to external causes over which they have no control or through which they attempt to deny responsibility (Jones & Berglas, 1978).…”