Fourteen-Year-Old David Rarely Turns in His Homework and Often Skips

Multiple Choice

Fourteen-year-old David rarely turns in his homework and often skips school, and so he is earning Ds and Fs in most of his classes. Yet he expresses his sincere desire to go to college and "make something of myself." This apparent inconsistency between his poor academic performance, on the one hand, and his strong interest in going to college, on the other, can probably best be explained by:

A) A lack of vicarious punishment in his life
B) Insufficiently developed self-regulation skills
C) An inability to think abstractly about his goals
D) A general tendency for adolescent boys to punish rather than reinforce themselves for academic success