There has been very limited research on the use of self-worth protection strategies in the achievement context of school physical education (PE). Thus, this study aimed to examine some antecedents and consequences of defensive pessimism and selfhandicapping. The sample comprised 534 (females n = 275; males n = 259) British pupils recruited from two schools who responded to established questionn...

The past literature indicates that performance is disrupted for defensive pessimists by encouragement. The goals of this research were to replicate this phenomenon, and then examine the mechanisms underlying it. Specifically, does the encouragement alleviate the anxiety defensive pessimists harness, and thus leave them unmotivated, or does it increase the pressure to perform well and make them ...