Children's Self-Esteem, Level of Esteem Certainty, and Responsibility for Success and Failure

Abstract

Summary Relationships between children's self-esteem, certainty of self-esteem appraisal, and intellectual achievement responsibility were examined in boys and girls at the sixth-grade (N = 146) and tenth-grade (N = 151) levels with use of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale and the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire. Differences between assumption of responsibility for success and responsibility for failure were found for all variables except grade level, supporting the notion that locus of control is not a unidimensional construct. Results suggest that a model involving a modification of attribution theory is necessary to account for the effects of varying levels of self-esteem.