GENDER AND ETHNIC-GROUP DIFFERENCES IN CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS FOR SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN MATHEMATICS AND LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS

The purpose of the present study was to examine gender and ethnic diff erences among Jewish and Arab high school students in Israel with resp ect to their causal attributions for success and failure in mathematic s and language examinations. The entire sample included 333 ninth grad ers. Nine causal attributions were examined. It was hypothesized that cultural differences in general and in gender role socialization in pa rticular, between the two ethnic groups, will result in different attr ibutional patterns. The findings indicated larger effects of ethnicity than of gender The effects were more pronounced in success than in fa ilure attributions. Arab students, compared to Jewish students, exhibi ted higher endorsement levels on success attributions and lower levels with less differentiation on failure attributions for all four subjec ts. These results were discussed within the framework of particular cu ltural norms.