Causal Attributions of Underachieving Fourth-Grade Students in China, Japan, and the United States

Abstract

Discrepancy between predicted and actual achievement scores was standardized within China, Japan, and the United States; 85 of 738 fourth-grade students were identified as underachievers. An equal-sized group of students achieving in the expected range was created with a matching procedure. All subjects responded to open-ended questions addressing their beliefs about the reasons for successful and unsuccessful mathematics performance. The students' responses were categorized and analyzed according to Weiner's attributional theory of achievement motivation. Asian students perceived controllable causes, particularly effort, to play a greater role in performance outcomes than did their American peers. Implications are discussed regarding the role causal beliefs and cultural factors may play in the underachievement phenomenon.

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