Value of college education mediating the predictive effects of causal attributions on academic success

Abstract

Causal attributions (explanations for outcomes) have been found to predict college students’ academic success; however, not all students attributing success or failure to adaptive (i.e., controllable) causes perform well in university. Eccles et al.’s (Achievement and achievement motives. W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, pp 75–145, 1983) expectancy-value theory posits that subjective task value likely mediates the relationship between causal attributions and academic success. The current study tested value as a mediator of the relationship between causal dimensions and academic success measured by perceived academic success and academic emotions. Participants were 389 college students from a Midwestern university. Results suggested that students who attributed their failure to internal, personally controllable causes perceived themselves as more successful if they also valued college education as enjoyable, useful, and/or rated its cost value as low. Findings also revealed that value of college education mediated the predictive effects of causal dimensions on several academic emotions, including pride, anger, shame, and guilt. Theoretical developments of attribution theory as well as practical implications for improving college students’ academic motivation, success, and positive emotions are discussed.