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Collective self-doubt: does subjective SES predict behavioral self-handicapping tendency in college students?

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Abstract

Self-handicapping is a defensive response to self-doubt about one’s abilities to perform well on an upcoming task. It involves the creation via behavior, or claiming, of obstacles prior to the performance in order to excuse potential failure. Although past research has focused on individual-level threats to identity, self-doubt could also result from being a member of a stigmatized group. As a result, groups that experience stigmatization may report a heightened tendency to self-handicap. We specifically examined whether subjectively lower socioeconomic status (SES) associates with reports of engaging in self-handicapping behavior. Across four samples of college students, we observed consistent associations between subjective SES (but not objective SES) and self-reported tendency to behaviorally self-handicap. Controlling for aspects of susceptibility to stereotype threat (namely, disidentification with college and doubts about academic ability) statistically eliminated this association. The findings are consistent with a process whereby low subjective SES fosters self-doubt and domain disidentification, increasing the appeal of defensive behaviors like self-handicapping.

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Availability of data and material

Data and R script are available here: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/s3sb6v7y5b/1. Materials are described in text and available upon request.

Notes

  1. For all studies, we report all manipulations, measures, and exclusions and attest that analyses did not proceed until respective data collection was completed.

  2. We only present the results of measures related to our test of the associations between subjective SES and self-handicapping tendency. For brevity, we only discuss those measures that were associated with either subjective SES or self-handicapping tendency. We also assessed measures of academic effort and performance as part of another research project. All additional measures for studies 2–4 are listed in the “Appendix”.

  3. Zero-order correlations not relevant to the hypotheses are presented in the “Appendix” for both Study 2 and Study 3.

  4. At the request of a reviewer, we also conducted these analyses separately for the behavioral SHS and the ASHS. Results were similar to the overall analysis albeit slightly weaker. There were significant effects of college identification, negative affect, and social class identification on the behavioral subscale of the SHS, with a significant indirect effect through negative affect and a marginal indirect effect through college identification. There was a significant effect of college identification and a marginal effect of negative affect on the ASHS, with marginal indirect effects through college identification and negative affect.

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Funding

This research was funded in part by the Caitlin Long award from the University of Wyoming.

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Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sean M. McCrea.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Additional variables measured

1.1 Study 2

  • Individualism and collectivism.

  • Hometown identification, campus identification, campus dependence.

  • Parental values, family support, peer support, family achievement guilt.

  • Additional demographics.

1.2 Study 3

  • Anxious about home stability.

  • Time of onset of ADHD symptoms.

  • Occupation of head of household and other adult when age 14.

  • Completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (Yes or No).

  • Number of adults and children in household when age 14 and currently.

  • Current occupation.

  • Year in school.

  • Primarily financially dependent on parents (Yes or No).

  • High School GPA and ACT/SAT scores.

  • On an athletic scholarship (Yes or No).

  • Attended private or public high school.

  • Sibling’s education level.

  • Presence of dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyslexia, physical disability, or ADHD diagnosis.

  • Openness, Extraversion, Agreeableness.

  • Theories of intelligence.

  • Items concerning effort and performance in Sociology course (or hardest class this semester).

1.3 Study 4

  • Openness, Extraversion, Agreeableness.

  • Childhood stress.

  • Social class perception.

  • Anxious about home stability.

  • Learning and ego orientation.

  • Positive and negative attitudes about education.

  • Life history.

  • High School GPA.

  • Attended private or public high school.

  • Sibling’s education level.

  • Completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (Yes or No).

  • Financial support from parents, employment, and scholarships.

  • Hours at job or extracurricular activities.

  • Measure of cognitive skills.

  • Academic effort, engagement, and performance in the course.

Appendix 2: Correlations between additional variables

2.1 Study 2: correlations between additional variables

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1. Cumulative GPA

         

2. High school GPA

0.220**

        

3. College readiness

0.193*

0.038

       

4. School stress

− 0.047

0.188*

0.105

      

5. Prescriptive norm

0.069

0.017

0.244**

0.311***

     

6. Descriptive norm

− 0.093

− 0.075

0.109

− 0.028

0.077

    

7. Worker scale

0.120

0.018

0.711***

0.198*

0.220**

0.198*

   

8. School self-efficacy

0.033

− 0.028

0.676***

0.072

0.257**

0.171*

0.642***

  

9. School motivation

0.239**

0.031

0.574***

− 0.035

0.162*

0.137

0.435***

0.344***

 

10. Career internal

− 0.093

− 0.058

0.326***

0.176*

0.319***

0.400***

0.385***

0.338***

0.285***

11. Career external

− 0.189*

− 0.060

− 0.361***

0.008

− 0.236**

− 0.131

− 0.327***

− 0.242**

− 0.251**

− 0.346***

12. Career helpless

− 0.263**

− 0.017

− 0.300***

0.072

− 0.234**

− 0.088

− 0.262**

− 0.206*

− 0.218**

− 0.308***

13. Career luck

− 0.155

− 0.122

− 0.295***

− 0.006

− 0.079

− 0.061

− 0.254**

− 0.155

− 0.165*

− 0.177*

14. Career others

− 0.057

0.005

− 0.322***

− 0.046

− 0.313***

− 0.197*

− 0.321***

− 0.264**

− 0.264**

− 0.421***

15. Fear of success

− 0.007

− 0.077

− 0.225**

0.005

− 0.047

− 0.465***

− 0.260**

− 0.258**

− 0.296***

− 0.313***

 

11

12

13

14

15

11. Career external

    

12. Career helpless

0.885***

   

13. Career luck

0.825***

0.571***

  

14. Career others

0.826***

0.706***

0.448***

 

15. Fear of success

0.274***

0.247**

0.212**

0.240**

  1. *** p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01, * p < 0.05

2.2 Study 3: correlations between additional variables

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1. Life history

        

2. Self-control

− 0.345***

       

3. Impulsiveness

0.349***

− 0.657***

      

4. ADHD symptoms

0.382***

− 0.559***

0.422***

     

5. Prevention focus

− 0.412***

0.575***

− 0.528***

− 0.413***

    

6. Worker

− 0.437***

0.628***

− 0.517***

− 0.385***

0.416***

   

7. Conscientious

− 0.329***

0.638***

− 0.508***

− 0.498***

0.408***

0.666***

  

8. Self-esteem

− 0.352***

0.405***

− 0.204**

− 0.315***

0.164*

0.296***

0.307***

 

9. Narcissism

0.151*

− 0.300***

0.219**

0.228**

− 0.253**

− 0.210**

− 0.148*

− 0.068

10. Self-absorption

0.246***

− 0.474***

0.244***

0.480***

− 0.210**

− 0.257***

− 0.353***

− 0.547***

0.268***

11. College stress

0.169*

− 0.417***

0.196**

0.357***

− 0.175*

− 0.275***

− 0.325***

− 0.508***

0.147*

12. Childhood stress

0.227**

− 0.140

0.077

0.147*

− 0.132

− 0.148*

− 0.180*

− 0.142

0.021

13. Emotional stability

− 0.210**

0.338***

− 0.100

− 0.273***

0.133

0.258***

0.295***

0.402***

− 0.163*

 

10

11

12

13

10. Self-absorption

   

11. College stress

0.489***

  

12. Childhood stress

0.126

0.241***

 

13. Emotional stability

− 0.451***

− 0.494***

− 0.060

  1. ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05

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Wondra, T.K., McCrea, S.M. Collective self-doubt: does subjective SES predict behavioral self-handicapping tendency in college students?. Soc Psychol Educ 25, 129–167 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-021-09678-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-021-09678-z

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