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Value of college education mediating the predictive effects of causal attributions on academic success

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Abstract

Causal attributions (explanations for outcomes) have been found to predict college students’ academic success; however, not all students attributing success or failure to adaptive (i.e., controllable) causes perform well in university. Eccles et al.’s (Achievement and achievement motives. W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, pp 75–145, 1983) expectancy-value theory posits that subjective task value likely mediates the relationship between causal attributions and academic success. The current study tested value as a mediator of the relationship between causal dimensions and academic success measured by perceived academic success and academic emotions. Participants were 389 college students from a Midwestern university. Results suggested that students who attributed their failure to internal, personally controllable causes perceived themselves as more successful if they also valued college education as enjoyable, useful, and/or rated its cost value as low. Findings also revealed that value of college education mediated the predictive effects of causal dimensions on several academic emotions, including pride, anger, shame, and guilt. Theoretical developments of attribution theory as well as practical implications for improving college students’ academic motivation, success, and positive emotions are discussed.

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Notes

  1. The CDS II separates Weiner’s (1985) causal dimension of controllability into two dimensions: external control and personal control. McAuley et al. (1992) argued that the reliability for each construct in the CDS II become higher than that in the CDS as controllability is separated into external controllable and personal controllable dimensions. Also, four causal dimensions become more statistically distinct than three causal dimensions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Teaching and Learning, University of North Dakota, Education Building, 231 Centennial Drive Stop 7189, Grand Forks, ND, 58203, USA

    Ying Dong & Masela Obade

  2. Department of Educational Foundations and Research, University of North Dakota, Education Building, 231 Centennial Drive Stop 7189, Grand Forks, ND, 58203, USA

    Robert H. Stupnisky

  3. Department of Teaching and Learning, University of North Dakota, 293 Centennial Drive Stop 8097, Grand Forks, ND, 58202-8097, USA

    Tammy Gerszewski

  4. Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, 319 Harvard Stop 8380, Grand Forks, ND, 58202, USA

    Joelle C. Ruthig

  5. Center for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and University Assessment, Miami University, 317 Laws Hall, 551 E. High St., Oxford, OH, 45056, USA

    Masela Obade

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  1. Ying Dong
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  2. Robert H. Stupnisky
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  4. Tammy Gerszewski
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Correspondence to Ying Dong.

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Dong, Y., Stupnisky, R.H., Obade, M. et al. Value of college education mediating the predictive effects of causal attributions on academic success. Soc Psychol Educ 18, 531–546 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-015-9299-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-015-9299-5

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