Abstract
Causal attributions given by athletes for performance can influence performance satisfaction, expectation of future success, and persistence in training and competition. Young and inexperienced athletes often show gender differences in sport attribution, with males attributing success to controllable or stable factors like ability and effort, and females attributing success to uncontrollable or unstable factors like luck and social support. Would older, more experienced female triathletes also show a self-defeating attribution style and see themselves with little control over sport performance? Using questionnaires, 624 triathletes (mostly white, 443 males, 181 females) rated the importance of 13 attributions for triathlon performance. Unlike past research, female triathletes attributed more importance than males to factors they can attempt to control (psychological state, diet, and weight). After a recent success, female triathletes downplayed the importance of luck and social support.
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This research was supported in part by grants from the Penn State University College of Liberal Arts Fund for Faculty Research and the Penn State University Schuylkill Campus Research Assistant Program.
We gratefully acknowledge the help in subject recruitment given to us by the organizers of the following triathlons: the 1985 Hawaii Ironman in Kona, Hawaii, the 1987 Canadian Ironman in Penticton, British Columbia; and the 1987 National Championships in Hilton Head, South Carolina. We also thank Bryan Raudenbush for data processing, Traci Shott for references, Michael Goss for graphics, and Diane Evans for manuscript preparation.
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Hendy, H.M., Boyer, B.J. Gender differences in attributions for triathlon performance. Sex Roles 29, 527–543 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289326
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289326