Academic attributional style: A comparison between Turkey and United Kingdom

Abstract

This study aims to investigate Turkish and English university students' academic attributional styles (AAS) and examine to what extent self-efficacy and gender predict AAS in each culture. Data were collected from 159 Turkish and 102 English students by survey. The results of ANCOVA revealed that British students have more pessimistic (internal, stable, global) attributions in explanations of negative events compared to Turkish students. Countrybased hierarchical regression results showed that women have more pessimistic AAS than men for Turkish sample, but gender did not make any significant contribution to the prediction of AAS for English sample. In both countries, self-efficacy failed to predict AAS. Some possible reasons for the results and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

Keywords

• academic achievement,university students,self efficacy,cultural differences,student success,academic attributional styles,questionnaire,gender differences,british students,turkish students

Akademik atıf tarzı: Türkiye ve İngiltere karşılaştırması

Öz

Çalışmada, Türkiye ve İngiltere'deki üniversite öğrencilerinin akademik atıf tarzlarının (AAT) karşılaştırılması ile, ülke bazında öz yeterlilik ve cinsiyetin AAT'yi ne ölçüde yordadığının tespit edilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Veriler 159 Türk ve 102 İngiliz öğrenciden anket yöntemi ile toplanmıştır. Öğrencilerin AAT'lerinin karşılaştırılması amacıyla uygulanan ANCOVA analizi, cinsiyet kontrol edildiğinde, İngilizlerin Türklere göre olumsuz olaylarda daha kötümser (içsel, sürekli ve genel) AAT'ye sahip olduklarını göstermektedir. İki ülke için uygulanan Hiyerarşik Regresyon analizinde, Türk kız öğrencilerin Türk erkek öğrencilere göre daha kötümser atıf tarzına sahip olduğu; İngiltere örneklemi için cinsiyetin anlamlı bir farklılığa neden olmadığı belirlenmiştir. Her iki ülkede de öz yeterliliğin AAT üzerinde anlamlı bir etkisine rastlanmamıştır. Araştırmanın bulguları ve bu bulgulara neden olabilecek kültürel etkiler son kısımda tartışılmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• akademik başarı,üniversite öğrencileri,öz yeterlik,kültürel farklılıklar,öğrenci başarısı,akademik atıf tarzı,anket,cinsiyet farklılıkları,ingiliz öğrenciler,türk öğrenciler

References

1. Ashforth, B.E. ve Fugate, M. (2006). Attributional Style in Work Settings: Development af a Measure, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 12: 12-29
2. Asner-Self, K. K., ve Schreiber, J. (2004). A Factorial Analytic Review of the Attributional Style Questionnaire with Central American Immigrants, Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 37: 144-153
3. Anderson C. A. (1999). Attributional Style, Depression and Loneliness: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of American and Chinese Students, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25: 482-499
4. Bandura, A (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action: a Social Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
5. Berndt, S.M., Berndt D.J. ve Kaiser C.F. (1982). Attributional Styles for Helplessness and Depression: The Importance of Sex and Situational Context, Sex Roles, 8: 433-441
6. Boggiano, A.K. & Barrett, M (1991) Gender Differences in Depression in College Students, Sex Roles, 25 : 595-605
7. Büyükselçuk, D. (2006). Özyeterliliğin Değişik Benlik Kurguları ve Atıflarla İlişkileri (Self-Efficacy in Relation to Self- Construals and Causal Attributions) (Basılmamış yüksek lisans tezi) İstanbul: Bogazici Universitesi
8. Chemers, M. M., Hu, L., & Garcia, B. F. (2001). Academic Self- Efficacy and First-Year College Student Performance and Adjustment, Journal of Educational Psychology, 93: 55-64

9. Choi, N. (2005) Self-efficacy and Self-Concept as Predictors of College Students’ Academic Performance, Psychology in the Schools, 42(2): 197-205
10. Goldsmith, R.E., Flynn,L., ve Kim, W. (2001). Age and Gender Differences in Self-Image: A Cross-Cultural Study, Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 16 (1): 35-52
11. Gürtekin A. (1993). The Effect of Attributing Success and Failure on the Impressions Created on Others (Basılmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi) Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi
12. Green S.B., Salkind N.J., Akey T.M., (2000), Using SPSS for Windows Analyzing and Understanding Data. Prentice Hall inc
13. Hirschy, A.J. & Morris, J.R. (2002) Individual Differences in Attributional Style: The relational influence of Self-efficacy, Self-esteem, and Sex Role Identity, Personality and Individual Differences, 32: 183-196
14. Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications
15. Houston, D.M. (1995), Surviving a Failure: Efficacy and A Laboratory Based Test of Hopelessness Model of Depression, European Journal of Social Psychology, 25: 545-558
16. Kavak, B. (2001). The Effect of Formal Education on Unethical Purchasing Decision: an Investigation on Faculty Members and University Students in Turkey and Kyrgyzistan, Boğaziçi Journal, Review of Social Economic and Administrative Studies, 14 (2) : 99-113
17. Klassen, R.M. (2004a) A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Efficacy Beliefs of South Asian Immigrant and Anglo Canadian Nonimigrant Early Adolescents, Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(4): 731-742
18. Klassen, R.M. (2004b). Optimism and Realism: A Review of Self- Efficacy From A Cross-Cultural Perspective, International Journal of Psychology, 39(3): 205-230
19. Lee F., Hallahan M., Herzog T., (1996), Explaining Real-life Events: How Culture and Domain Shape Attributions? Personaliy and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22: 732-741
20. Lee Y. & Seligman M. (1997). Are Americans More Optimistic Than the Chinese? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23: 32-40
21. Musgrave-Marquart, D., Bromley, S., & Dalley, M. (1997). Personality, Academic Attribution, aand Substance Use as Predictors of Academic Achievement in College Students, Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 12: 501-511
22. Nunnally, J.C. (1974). Psychometric theory. (İkinci Baskı.), McGraw-Hill, New York Oettingen G. (1995). Explanatory Style in the Context of Culture
23. İçinde, G.M. Buchanan ve M.E.P. Seligman (Eds.), Explanatory Style. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrance Erlbaum:216
24. Oettingen G. & Seligman M. E.P. (1990). Pessimism and Behavioral Signs of Depression in East versus West Berlin, European Journal of Social Psychology, 20: 207-220
25. Pajares F. (2002). Overwiew of Social Cognitive Theory and of Self-efficacy. (http://www.emory.edu.tr/EDUCATION/MFP/ eff.html) 12 Mayıs 2007
26. Peterson C. & Barrett L. (1987). Explanatory Style and Academic Performance Among University Freshmen, Journal of Personality and Psychology, 53: 603-607
27. Petiprin G. & Johnson M. (1991). Effects of Gender, Attributional Style, and Item Difficulty on Academic Performance, The Journal of Psychology, 125: 45-50
28. Seligman, M.E.P. (1990). Learned Optimism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf
29. Tabassam W. & Grainger J. (2002). Self-Concept, Attributional Style and Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Students With Learning Disabilities With and Without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Learning Disability Quarterly, 25: 141-151
30. Turk E., Bry B.H., (2005), Adolescents’ and Parents Explanatory Styles and Parents’ Casual Explanations About Their Adolescents, Cognitive Theraphy and Research, 16 ( 3): 349-357
31. Wood R. & Bandura A. (1989). Social Cognitive Theory of Organizational Management, Academy of Management Review, 14: 361-384
32. Yeşilay, Schwarzer & Jerusalem (1996). Turkish Adaptation of the General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale (http: //userpage.fu-berlin.de/~health/turk.htm)
33. Zimmerman B.J. (1989). A Social-cognitive View of Self-Regulated Academic Learning, Journal of Educational Psychology, 81: 329-339.