Abstract
According to the reformulated model of learned helplessness, the attributional dimension of internality is an important determinant of low self-esteem. However, there have been few empirical studies of this relationship. This study was conducted to examine whether the content of high school students' attributional styles as measured at Time 1 interacted with the outcomes students received on a midterm examination to predict the state of their subsequent self-esteem. In addition, I investigated the relation between the causal attributions these students made for their grades and their self-esteem. The results were as follows: Students who internally attributed the cause of hypothetical negative outcomes were found to have lower self-esteem after receiving poor results from actual midterm examination. Causal attributions for naturally occurring events were not correlated with concurrent levels of self-esteem. Some implications of these results are discussed.
