Master of Arts (Applied Psychology)

This study examined the general question of the relationship between students’ attribution style and their self-efficacy beliefs in early adolescence. Quantitative methods were used to examine Seligman’s attribution theory using the Children’s Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) (Kaslow, Tanenbaum, & Seligman, 1978), as well as Bandura’s (1989a) Multidimensional Scales of Perceived Self Efficacy to examine students’ attribution style and their perceived efficacy in self-regulated learning. Attribution style is the way in which people explain events, or the pattern of explanations for what causes events (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) and it is represented by three dimensions: (a) permanence (b) pervasiveness and (c) personalization. There were statistically significant differences between attribution style for gender and academic streams. In particular, the study revealed that males displayed an external-control attribution style for positive events and an internal-control orientation attribution style for negative events. The study also indicated that the Express Stream participants felt more hopeful about their future as compared to the Normal Stream peers. Students’ attribution style is positively associated with their efficacy for self-regulated learning. These findings were interpreted in terms of educational implications and student empowerment, with suggestions made for future studies.