"Self-handicapping" has been described by Jones and Berglas (1978) as the creation of obstacles or disadvantages that make success on a task more difficult. They proposed that when faced with an important evaluation, many individuals create an impediment to performance to protect their self-esteem, rather than meeting the challenge of doing their best. The strategy is considered to be mostly unconscious, and it is typically operative when a person doubts his/her capabilities. For the sample used in the current study, self-handicapping was measured with the shortened Self-Handicapping Scale, which contains 14 items that measure tendencies to use self-handicapping strategies such as illness, procrastination, emotional upsets, and lack of effort. Self-handicapping was examined in relation to self-esteem, performance attributions, coping strategies, and the potential behavioral self-handicaps of reduced study hours and inefficient study habits. The data analysis found that girls scored significantly higher on the Self-Handicapping Scale and tended to use emotion-related and illness-related excuses significantly more often than boys. High self-handicapping scores independently predicted lower study hours for boys and were associated with less efficient study for girls. For boys, the coping and attributional predictors of self-handicapping were rumination, luck attribution, and poor active coping strategies; for girls, they were ability attributions, behavioral disengagement, instrumental support, and poor active coping strategies. This study concludes that the habitual use of a self-handicapping strategy when challenged to demonstrate ability places youth in a cycle of chronic underachievement, bringing lowered self-esteem and well-being with it. Self-focused rumination in particular is an emotion-focused strategy associated with dysphoria and depression. Suggestions are offered for interventions in school settings that can assist in countering self-handicapping attitudes and behaviors. 3 tables and 31 references