Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Costs of self-handicapping.

Miron Zuckerman1, Fen-Fang Tsai

  • 1Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA. miron@psych.rochester.edu

Journal of Personality
|March 5, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Self-handicapping, a behavior to protect self-esteem, is linked to maladjustment and negative health outcomes. This includes increased substance use, decreased job motivation, and poorer mood over time.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Coherence and the Conjunction Fallacy.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2025
Same author

Does Religious Priming Induce Greater Prejudice? A Meta-Analytic Review.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2022
Same author

Culture Moderates the Relation Between Gender Inequality and Well-Being.

Psychological science·2021
Same author

The Negative Intelligence-Religiosity Relation: New and Confirming Evidence.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2019
Same author

Religiosity predicts negative attitudes towards science and lower levels of science literacy.

PloS one·2018
Same author

Becoming more or less mature? The decline of self-control in middle childhood.

Journal of personality·2018

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Health Psychology

Background:

  • Self-handicapping is a behavioral strategy individuals use to protect their self-concept.
  • Unstable or contingent self-esteem may drive self-handicapping behaviors.
  • The relationship between self-handicapping and various health-related outcomes requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the longitudinal relationship between trait self-handicapping and health-related measures.
  • To investigate the mediating role of competence satisfaction in the link between self-handicapping and negative mood.
  • To explore the impact of self-handicapping on substance use and job motivation over time.

Main Methods:

  • Four distinct studies were conducted to assess trait self-handicapping.
  • Longitudinal data collection was employed to track changes over time.
  • Measures included self-report questionnaires assessing self-handicapping, maladjustment, competence satisfaction, mood, substance use, and job motivation.

Main Results:

  • Self-handicapping and maladjustment were found to mutually reinforce each other over time.
  • Reduced competence satisfaction mediated the association between self-handicapping and negative mood.
  • Self-handicappers reported increased substance use and diminished intrinsic job motivation longitudinally.
  • These findings suggest self-handicapping serves to bolster a fragile self-concept, particularly in individuals with contingent self-esteem.

Conclusions:

  • Trait self-handicapping has detrimental effects on psychological well-being and health-related behaviors.
  • Interventions aimed at improving self-esteem stability may reduce self-handicapping.
  • Understanding the mechanisms linking self-handicapping to negative outcomes is crucial for developing effective prevention and treatment strategies.

Related Experiment Videos