The Preliminary Study On The Undergraduates' Fear Of Success

The fear of success (FOS) refers to the one inclines to avoid being successful when he anticipates that it will bring some negative influences in the period of pursuing success or after succeed. On the basis of reviewing former researches and consulting the psychological experts, the theoretical hypothesis on FOS is put forward. According to it, the study designs a preliminary questionnaire on FOS of undergraduates after the open-ended questionnaires and the interviews with undergraduates, which is formed into the formal questionnaire, and the reliability and validity are tested out. 1134 undergraduates from 7 universities are investigated by using the formal questionnaire, and the effects of gender, grade, and major etc. are analyzed to explore the characteristic of undergraduates' FOS.The main results of this study are as follows:(1) The self-made questionnaire has high reliability and validity. By means of the method of factor analysis, the research finds that the undergraduates' FOS is constructed by six dimensions: life quality, marriage and family, work pressure, sexual attraction, interpersonal relationship, and mental health. These are basically consistent with the theoretical hypothesis.(2) Undergraduates' FOS presents a middle or lower level generally, and it doesn't indicate that undergraduates have a tendency of avoiding success. The order of the rating of the six factors is as follows: mental health, marriage and family, interpersonal relationship, life quality, work pressure, sexual attraction. Therefore, we can conclude that undergraduates are much more worried about the negative influence on mental health in the period of pursuing success or after succeed.(3) There isn't any significant difference in undergraduates' FOS between the male and the female. As a result of comparing different grades, we find that the scores of sophomore and junior are significantly higher than freshman and senior. Those students who do poorly in school work have a much higher level on FOS. The students who study Science have a higher level of FOS on the factor of "sexual attraction". The students who study Art have a lower level of FOS on the factor of "work pressure". The birth order and the education background of their parents make no significant difference in undergraduate' FOS.(4) There is significant interaction between gender and grade. The male's score is higher than the female except senior. However, the male's score become low even lower than the female in senior. There also is interaction between gender and major. The male who study Science have a higher score on the factor "work pressure", and the female who study Science have a higher score on the factor "mental health".