DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-HANDICAPPING TENDENCIES

This study was undertaken to determine when U.S. children begin to sel f-handicap, that is, to reduce preparation effort before evaluations r ather than applying themselves to do their best. The personal variable s examined for their impact on practice behavior were gender, grade le vel, and self-esteem. The situational variables were time of the self- esteem test (before or after the evaluation task) and importance of th e evaluation task. The results showed that (a) the 6th-grade boys were more likely than the 6th-grade girls to self-handicap, (b) the 3rd-gr ade children were not as affected as the 6th-grade children by the sel f-evaluation implications of performance evaluations, (c) self-handica pping by low-self-esteem and high-self-esteem 6th graders depended on recent experiences, and (d) the self-affirming experience of a self-es teem test reduced the motivation to self-handicap among high-self-este em 6th-grade boys.