Life Goals and Attributions for Expected Outcomes among Adolescents from Five Ethnic Groups

This research explored the relationships among life goals and attributions for outcomes among 371 adolescents (mean age 14.8 years) from five American ethnic groups: Armenian, Vietnamese, Mexican American, European American, and African American. Adolescents responded to open-ended questions regarding their future goals, expectation of reaching their goals, and attributions for the expected outcome. Results showed that most adolescents set high goals and expected to reach them. Those who expected to reach their goals attributed the outcome more to effort and less to external factors than did those who did not expect success. Compared to European American adolescents, minority group adolescents attributed outcomes more to effort and less to ability. This finding may reflect their belief that they need to work harder to overcome obstacles and stereotypes.