Abstract
This study was designed with the intention of bringing more clarity to the issue of the relationship between irrational beliefs and other aspects of personality and personal characteristics including academic achievement, school attitudes and behaviors, and age and sex differences in adolescents. The irrational beliefs used in the study were described in the Rational Emotive Therapy of Albert Ellis (1973). The subjects of this study were 166 eighth graders and 52 eleventh graders from two separate school districts. Students participated on a voluntary basis. The issue of academic achievement was approached from three separate measures: grade point average, achievement test records, and achievement motivation. The achievement test administered by the school districts was the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). Achievement motivation was measured by the Achievement Motivation Scale (AMS). Subjects were also administered the Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) to derive an indication of the degree of irrational beliefs subscribed to by the two age groups as well as by sex. Results of the statistical analyses indicated the total IBT score did not relate significantly to academic achievement as defined by grade point average, achievement test, or academic motivation. However, there were significant differences between the sexes on the total IBT but not between age groups. Within each of the academic achievement variables, sex and age, there were significant relationships with specific subscales of the IBT. In a substudy of 41 subjects with the difference between IQ score and grade point average as an indicator of lower or higher achievement, significant relationships were found with specific subscales. A significant relationship was also found between the total IBT score and lower achievers but not for higher achievers. The results of this study indicate there are significant relationships between irrational beliefs and academic achievement variables. Further study would be warranted.
Orman, Teresa Elise (1986). The relationship between irrational beliefs and higher and lower achievers. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -22008.