The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that variables such as social class, sex, race, I.Q. and school achievement influence a child's anxiety through their influence on the child's tendency to attribute his failures to low ability. The research method selected was a survey design in which nearly simultaneous data were gathered on each of the four background variables, four attributions scores (low ability, lack of effort, difficult task, and bad luck), and three measures of anxiety (test anxiety scale, general anxiety scale, and teacher-rated anxiety). A simple, recursive path analysis was used to assess the adequacy of the notion that attributions to low ability could mediate the relationship between anxiety and its correlates. The sample subjects were 150 children from the seventh grade of a junior high school. The strongest correlate of anxiety among the background variables in these data was the child's sex. (Author/AM)