Description of the Questionnaire

The questionnaire is part of the revised edition of the Manual for the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS) by Midgley and colleagues (2000). It consists of six items that assess the extent to which students use self-handicapping strategies.

Data Analysis and Use

The questionnaire was standardized in Greece with a sample of seven hundred and two students from the 6th grade of elementary school, the 8th grade of junior high school, and the 10th grade of high school. Students came from both urban and rural areas. Factor analysis with Varimax rotation indicated the existence of a single factor, with loadings ranging from 0.65 to 0.75. The internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s α) was 0.79.

Aim

The aim is to measure the frequency of students’ use of self-handicapping strategies. These strategies allow students to attribute possible failures to external factors, such as lack of effort or situational difficulties, thereby protecting their self-esteem, rather than attributing performance to a lack of ability.

Scaling

The questionnaire consists of six statements. Students respond on a five-point Likert scale, where 1 corresponds to “Strongly disagree,” 2 to “Disagree,” 3 to “Neither agree nor disagree,” 4 to “Agree,” and 5 to “Strongly agree.” The total score is calculated as the mean of the six responses.

References

Leontari, A. (2006). Self-handicapping. In E. Sygkollitou (Ed.), The concept of the self and school functioning (pp. 119–138). Thessaloniki: Kyriakidis.
Leondari, A., & Gonida, E. N. (2007). Predicting academic self-handicapping in different age groups: The role of personal achievement goals and social goals. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77, 595–611.
Midgley, C., Maehr, M. L., Hruda, L. Z., Anderman, E., Anderman, L., Freeman, M. E., Gheen, M., Kaplan, A., Kumar, R., Middleton, M. J., Nelson, J., Roeser, R. W., & Urdan, T. U. (2000). Manual for the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.