Jourmd of Educational PsychololD' Copyright 1989 by the American PsychologicalAssociation, Inc. 1989, Vol. 81, No. 3, 400--407 0022-0663/89/$00.75 Structure of Freshmen's Causal Attributions for Exam Performance Frank Van Overwalle Unit EDUCO Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium This article explores the structure underlying causal attribution for achievement in an actual academic context. Ss were 859 university freshmen drawn from 4 samples. First, they rated the influence of 10 possible causes on their exam performance. Procrustes factor analysis of the causes revealed 4 factors in each of the samples reflecting the dimensions of locus, stability, control, and globality. The fit of the factor solution with theoretical predictions was r = .73. Second, 209 Ss drawn from the same population assessed 10 causes for exam performance along the dimensions of locus, stability, and control. The theoretical fit of these direct judgments was also substantial, r ffi .75. The author concludes that the four dimensions of locus, stability, control, and globality reflect the major characteristics of causal attributions given for academic achievement. The attributional theory of achievement motivation ad- vanced by Weiner (1985, 1986) describes how expectancies, emotions, and performance at achievement tasks are deter- mined by the causes that individuals attribute to prior out- comes. Research has indicated that there is great extent and variety in the causal explanation people invoke for task per- formance (for an overview see Weiner, 1986, p. 39). This abundance has made some general classification scheme, or taxonomy, of causes necessary. A causal taxonomy should serve two theoretical purposes. The first purpose is to delineate similarities and differences between the many attributions #oven for achievement events. The second purpose is to un- cover underlying properties or dimensions of causes, because these are regarded as the basic determinants that link attri- butions with expectancy, emotional, and behavioral reactions. Weiner (1979) proposed a causal taxonomy with three basic dimensions. The first dimension, locus, distinguishes causes within the person (e.g., ability and effort) from external causes (e.g., luck and difficulty). The second dimension, stability, distinguishes enduring causes (e.g., aptitude) from variable ones (e.g., luck). The third dimension, controllability, reflects causes that are under the control of the actor (e.g., effort) or other people (e.g., volitional help) versus causes that are uncontrollable by anybody (e.g., luck). Yet another dimen- sion, termed globality, was proposed by Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale (1978). This dimension distinguishes specific causes (e.g., knowledge of a specific field) from general ones (e.g., overall intelligence). Although discussed here in terms of dichotomous constructs for ease of presentation, it is more realistic to represent dimensions as a continuum with two extreme points between which the position of causes can vary. I am indebted to B. Weiner, P. Lunt, T. Bergen, and S. Foster for their valuable comments on an earlier draft of this article. I also thank R. Stroobants for his help with the Procrustes analyses. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Frank Van OverwaUe, Unit EDUCO, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Plein- laan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. 400 The aim of the study presented here is to explore the dimensionality of causal attributions in the real-life context of academic achievement. Previous attributional research has generally revealed two or three of the dimensions proposed by Weiner (for an overview see Weiner, 1986, p. 66). Most of these studies, however, have been carried out on simulated events. To date, there are only two studies that have examined causal dimensionality after actual achievements. Bar-Tal and Darom (1979) measured pupils' attributions for test outcome in elementary school and uncovered the dimensions of locus and stability by means of factor analysis. Meyer and Koelbl (1982) also factor analyzed attributions for test performance in high school. They found confirmation of Weiner's (1986) three-dimensional taxonomy but also discovered an unex- pected fourth factor that could not be clearly interpreted. Thus there is still some doubt about the structure of cans- ality, especially in natural occurrences. Moreover, the subjects in the two studies discussed in the previous paragraph were from primary and secondary school levels. One cannot com- pletely rule out the possibility that extended exposure of older university students to academic outcomes could result in perceptions of underlying properties that are of greater diver- sity and complexity than those of younger children. More empirical evidence at higher educational levels, such as uni- versity, therefore is needed to further validate the causal structure proposed by attribution theorists for larger areas of achievement. Hence, this study was undertaken to determine the causal structure of attributions for academic outcome provided by four samples of university students. An additional objective of this study is to examine how the students them- selves perceive the properties of causes for academic success and failure and to what extent these perceptions agree with theorists' classifications. To answer these questions, it is necessary that there be a sufficient majority of subjects who agree on the exact location of each cause within major properties. Weiner (1985) has cautioned that the dimensional placement of causes may not necessarily remain constant between people and situations. It seems reasonable, however, to assume that there is some