Who is afraid of success? And why?

Abstract

This study was designed to facilitate understanding of different forms and expressions of Fear of Success. It had four specific aims: (1) to test for Fear of Success in response to a semiprojective measure among Israeli pupils in their last year in high school, (2) to test for developmental trends in this variable, (3) to investigate whether disadvantaged pupils also express Fear of Success, and (4) to investigate more overt expressions of negative attitudes toward success. The sample was comprised of 391 subjects of two age groups (13 and 17), two social classes (advantaged and disadvantaged), and both sexes. The results replicated Horner's findings in that advantaged girls in high school scored higher on projective Fear of Success than advantaged boys. However, in elementary school both scored low. A novel finding was that disadvantaged pupils of both sexes scored high on Fear of Success in high school. Subgroups scoring high on projective Fear of Success also revealed a variety of negative attitudes toward success in response to the overt measures. Analysis of the results suggested that Fear of Success is a complex phenomenon which may take different forms involving various kinds of cultural expectations and different degrees of conflict.