Fear of Success

One of the largest problems facing rural school counselors is that of confronting the low career expectations that many rural students have by the time they reach high school. The relationship among the fear of success (FOS), self-concept, and career decision making of adolescents was examined in this study. Special attention was given to whether or not the sex difference for FOS as reported for urban youth is also true for rural youth. Students (N=276) from three middle schools and three high schools in eastern Kentucky participated in this study. Each participant completed three self-report measures. Statistical analysis of the results reveals that the rural youth demonstrated a higher FOS than reported by urban youth in previous studies. Contrary to other studies, male participants reported a higher FOS than did female students. FOS was found to be related to both career certainty and career indecision: lower FOS was related to higher career certainty whereas higher FOS was related to higher career indecision. FOS was also found to be related to self-esteem. As FOS increases, self-esteem drops, career indecision rises, and career certainty decreases. Although a relationship was found among these variables, any causal relationships or interaction effects could not be addressed. (RJM) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ********************************************************************************