I’m Afraid of not succeeding in learning: introducing an instrument to measure higher education students’ fear of failure in learning

ABSTRACT

Studies have examined the impacts of fear of failure on behavior and performance, yet there are few, if any, attempts to empirically identify this construct in the context of learning. The purpose of this study was to report on the development, validity and reliability of the psychometric properties, and factor structure of the fear of failure in learning (FOFL). To this end, an exploratory factor analysis was performed with a total of 230 undergraduate and graduate students. Also, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed with 348 undergraduate and graduate students to verify the validity and reliability of the instrument. This study provided evidence that the 26-item instrument was an efficient instrument to measure higher education students’ fear of failure in learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Fear of failure
• learning
• factor analysis
• goal orientation
• instrument development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.