Male and female college undergraduates were classified according to Marcia's identity statuses (achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion). Sex differences related to identity status, and relationship of identity status to achievement need, fear of success, fear of failure, and self esteem were also discussed. (CP)

The competitive definition of success has fostered the popular notion that women are afraid to succeed. Recent research suggests that this anxiety is generated by the climate of competition, not success itself. Rather than training women to compete, the institutions and values that define success should be restructured. (Author/SK)

Measurement of females motives to avoid success were evaluated with students taking part in the Horner's Thematic Apperception Tests. Results of the study show that this testing procedure measures a more complex set of attitudes, expectations and personality characteristics than implied by "motive to avoid success" theory. (Author/EK)

The present study attempted to replicate and extend previous findings that reported M-s (motive to avoid success) in women. The possible importance of academic major and presence of a male examiner also were investigated. (Author/RK)

An examination of the fear of success in black college women at four campuses indicates that the proportion of fear of success found in Thematic Apperception Test imagery of black women is consistently lower than has been found in studies of such imagery of white women. (Author)

This paper, presented at the American Educational Research Association, Washington, D.C., April 1975, replicates Horner's (1968) study of the motive to avoid success (M-s) on fifty-through eleventh-grade males (N=169) and females (N=168). Sex and grade differences were found in the specific reasons given for avoiding success. (Author)

This study was designed to extend discussion of fear of success beyond the college population, using Horner's original coding scheme to examine the thematic imagery of TAT stories told by a cross-section of the public during a survey interview. The data collected from this sample of the general public contrasted in several ways with data gathered…

The Personality Research Form and the Achievement Anxiety Test were compared to the Thematic Apperception Test and Mandler-Sarason Test Anxiety Questionnaire. The former were equally reliable and valid measures of motive for success and motive to avoid failure. The ease of administration and scoring would recommend their use to researchers.…