Relation between the Existence of Intimate Others and Fear of Success

Abstract

The purposes of the present study were to examine 1) the relation between the existence of intimate others and the emergence of fear of success, 2) gender differences in the characteristics of fear of success, and 3) the relation between sex role expectations, the image of a success, and the emergence of fear of success. A projective measure of fear of success (Horner's style), a role expectation scale, and image of success scale were used to study 302 undergraduate students (149 males and 153 females). Results showed that males have a high fear of success when, in some competitive situation, they surpass people close to them, such as male best friends or girlfriends, whereas females have such feelings when they surpass their boyfriends. Also, the results showed that there are different aspects of fear of success in males and females : males tend to be afraid of success when they have fear of failure, while females tend to be afraid of success when they think that success would violate their traditional feminine role.