The Mediating Role of Self - Handicapping in Relation between Shame and Guilt Feelings and Academic Adjustment

The present study examined the antecedents of academic adjustment as a causal model. In this model, feelings of shame and guilt were as exogenous variables, self-handicapping as mediating variable, and academic adjustment as endogenous variable. The participants of this study were 421 (141 males and 280 females) undergraduate students of Shiraz University who were selected by multistage cluster sampling and completed the Shame and Guilt Inventory Questionnaire (Cohen et al. , 2011) , the Self-Disability Scale (Jones & Rhodewalt, 1982) and the Academic Adaptation Scale (Baker & Siryk, 1989). Structural equation analysis was performed by using Amos software to study the research model. The model was analyzed at two measurement and structural levels. The level of measurement findings indicated that the factor structure of guilt feeling in Iranian culture was different from that of instrument makers. The findings of structural relationships showed that feelings of guilt predicted academic adjustment positively both directly and through external self-handicapping. Concerning the feeling of shame, the results indicated that this emotion predicted internal self-handicapping negatively. In general, the findings of the study, on the one hand, showed the differences in emotion prediction profile with regard to self-handicapping and academic adjustment, and on the other hand, the differences between mediation of the two types of internal and external self-handicapping strategies in predicting academic adjustment.