Children's Self-Efficacy, Motivational Intentions, and Attributions in Physical Education and Sport

The purpose of this study was to examine how differences in children's self-efficacy, age, and gender impact motivational intentions, future self-efficacy, and attributions following perceptions of failure. Children, ages 8-14 years (N = 289), were assigned to either high or low self-efficacy groups, and measures of intended effort, persistence, choice, future self-efficacy, and attributions for failure were collected following a failure scenario. Results indicated that children with higher self-efficacy chose to participate and had higher future self-efficacy scores than those with lower self-efficacy. Higher efficacy children attributed failure to lack of effort, whereas, those with lower efficacy attributed failure to lack of ability. Age-related differences were also found with choice to participate, effort, and future self-efficacy.