Constructing Success and Failure: Age Differences in Perceptions and Explanations of Success and Failure

Abstract

Age differences in attributions for self-reported successes and failures in both important and daily situations were examined. Sixty-one young adults (M age = 19.2), twenty-one middle-aged adults (M age = 45), and fifteen older adults (M age = 71.4) gave attributions and affects for self-chosen situations, which were classified as social or nonsocial. The attributions and affects were coded according to Blank's scheme with attributions dichotomized into internal and external, and stable and unstable. Middle-age and older adults were more likely than young adults to attribute failure to external causes and to describe more social than nonsocial situations. Consistent age differences in attributional stability were not found nor were there age differences in attributional internality for success outcomes.

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