Self-handicapping and defensive pessimism: Exploring a model of predictorsand outcomes from a self-protection perspective

The present study is centrally concerned with self-handicapping and defensi ve pessimism (comprising defensive expectations and reflectivity), the fact ors that predict these strategies, and the associations between these strat egies and a variety of academic outcomes. Major findings are that task orie ntation negatively predicts both self-handicapping and defensive expectatio ns and positively predicts reflectivity; uncertain personal control positiv ely predicts defensive expectations, and to a lesser extent, self-handicapp ing; and an external attributional orientation is positively associated wit h self-handicapping, and to a lesser extent, defensive expectations. Both s elf-handicapping and defensive expectations are negatively associated with self-regulation and persistence, whereas reflectivity is positively associa ted with these outcomes. Students high in self-handicapping received lower end-of-year grades than did students low in self-handicapping and were less likely to be in attendance 1 year later.