Expressed attributions for academic success and failure by adolescents and young adults

The attributions people make to explain their successes and failures to others are complex conversational achievements. Because these attributional expressions are acts of speech, they are likely influenced by the same developmental constraints that affect other communication behavior, This investigation was conducted to examine differences between expressed attributions that adolescents (ages 11-15) and young adults (ages 18-23) offer for academic success and failure when interacting with peers, as well as to explore the perceptions adolescents and young adults associate with such interactions. Participants responded to a series of open-ended questions concerning two hypothetical classroom scenarios. The questions required respondents to provide expressed attributions, descriptions of peer support, and perceived consequences of the interactions. Young adults were found to have a significantly larger repertoire of attributional expressions at their disposal, and utilized more justifications and excuses than did adolescents Adolescents, in contrast, offered significantly more explanations and concessions to account for their performance. They also perceived the consequences of the hypothetical interactions more negatively than did their young adult counterparts, and anticipated fewer supportive responses from their peers in failure situations.