Self-Concept and Success-Failure Attributions of Nonhandicapped Students and Students with Learning Disabilities

Self-concept and attributions made about academic successes and failures were compared in 46 students with learning disabilities and 47 normally achieving students (mean age = 12.0 years). Results from the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale (Piers, 1984) suggested that lower overall self-concepts in the students with learning disabilities (p < .01) were primarily due to differences in self-concepts regarding intellectual and school status (p < .001). Attributions regarding internal versus external causes for successes and failures and stable (ability) versus unstable (effort) causes for failures did not differentiate the groups. Self-concept, particularly school related self-concept, was correlated with ability/effort attributions. Subjects with lower self-concepts were more likely to attribute failures to ability. Both the self-concept and attribution data have implications for academic and motivational interventions.