The aim of this article was fourfold: first, to determine whether there are significant differences between students with (N= 173) and without learning disabilities (LD; N= 172) in the dimensions of self-concept, causal attributions, and academic goals. Second, to determine whether students with LD present a uniform attributional profile or whether there are subgroups of attributional profiles among students with LD. Third, to explore differences between these profiles on the dimensions of self-concept, academic goals, perception of competence-incompetence, persistence when faced with failure, peer relationships, and academic achievement. Fourth, to determine whether there are significant differences in the dimensions of self-concept and academic goals between NLD students and the different LD subgroups. The results indicate the existence of two very distinct attributional profiles in students with LD (Helplessness Profile and Adaptive Profile). The implications of these data with regard to theory and research, as well as educational practice, are discussed.Current theory and research indicate that self-concept, adaptive causal attributions, and motivation (along with strategic knowledge) are crucial for effective metacognitive processing Pintrich, 2000). However, after more than 30 years of research on the motivational and affective sphere of students with learning disabilities (LD), and its relation to school learning, instead of a unified panorama, we find an enormous quantity of contradictory results (Gresham & MacMillan, 1997). Although one could infer from most of the studies that students with LD, compared to their peers without LD (NLD), have a more negative self-concept, less motivation to learn, and a maladaptive attributional profile, the data provided by more recent investigations suggest that not all students with LD have the same profile. In the following paragraphs, we describe the scope of the discrepancy in the results of past research and provide a rationale for the present study.
Causal AttributionsThe attributional theory proposed by Bernard Weiner ex-plains motivation as a function of an individual's perceptions of the causes of previous successes and failures (Weiner, 2000). A large part of the research performed within this paradigm in the field of special education indicates that students with LD feel threatened by failure and usually attribute their successes to external variables such as luck, others' help, etc., and their failures to the lack of ability (more than to insufficient effort). Thus, an important portion of the research carried out to date has concluded that children or adolescents with LD tend to manifest a maladaptive attributional style, low achievement expectations, low persistence at school tasks, and low academic self-concept (Kirk & Gallagher, 1986;Montgomery, 1994;Núñez, González-Pumariega, & González-Pienda, 1995). In turn, these attitudes reduce student motivation and generate negative feelings about their academic work and about themselves. With time, this...