Secondary school coeducation and the fear of success and failure

Marybeth Shinn, Radcliffe College. Henry A. Murray Research Center

This study was undertaken to provide evidence confirming the test-retest reliability and construct validity of a new empirically derived scoring system for fear of success. The first test session occurred while male and female students were attending separate, highly selective secondary schools in New York. The second test session occurred at the end of the first semester after the two schools merged into a coeducational institution. A total of 39 male and 52 female 9th to 11th grade students completed both sets of instruments. Fear of success, fear of failure, and verbal performance were assessed at each test session, and students were asked to fill out a brief questionnaire that solicited information about how they felt about coeducation. To measure fear of success, participants were asked to write projective stories to three verbal cues. Fear of failure was measured by the...