Self-Esteem and Causal Attributions for Children's Physical and Social Competence in Sport
in Journal of Sport and Exercise PsychologyClick name to view affiliation
This study explored the relationship between children's self-esteem and attributions for performance in both physical and social achievement domains. Children's physical and social self-esteem as well as perceptions of and attributions for performance and interpersonal success in a summer sports program were assessed. Multivariate analyses revealed a significant relationship between self-esteem and causal attributions for both physical and social domains. For physical competence, children high in self-esteem made attributions that were more internal, stable, and higher in personal control than did low self-esteem children. For social competence, children high in self-esteem made attributions that were more internal, stable, and higher in personal and lower in external control than did children low in self-esteem. These results provided support for a self-consistency approach to self-esteem.
M.R. Weiss and V. Ebbeck are with the Dept. of Physical Education and Human Movement Studies at the University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. E. McAuley is with the Dept. of Kinesiology at the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801. D.M. Wiese is with the School of Physical Education at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Both McAuley and Wiese were formerly with the University of Oregon.
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