Race and Academic Disengagement

Psychological Disengagement

Psychological disengagement represents a coping mechanism that preserves a person's sense of self-worth in the face of negative feedback. For example, a student may discount a bad grade on an exam by framing it as an aberration, thereby preserving a 'good student' self-identity. Employing this coping mechanism has specific advantages, such as allowing the student to be persistent about achieving academic success despite receiving negative feedback (Nussbaum and Steele, 2007). On the other hand, psychological disengagement could facilitate a student framing academic success as irrelevant to their personal goals and future. Such students tend to perform poorly in school and suffer from increased dropout rates (reviewed by Stephan, Caudroit, Boiche, and Sarrazin, 2011). In contrast, students who are academically successful tend not to disengage, despite receiving a negative evaluation, and self-perceptions of their academic competency suffers accordingly. Understanding the mechanisms that encourages psychological disengagement...
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