Objective:To explore the relation of fear of success to self-esteem,academic self-handicapping, and defensive pessimism in college students.Methods:Totally 291 college students were surveyed with the Self-Es-teem Scale (SES ),Academic Self-handicapping Questionnaire (ASHQ ),Defensive Pessimism Questionnaire (DPQ)and Fear of Success Questionnaire for Undergraduates (FOSQ).The structural equation modeling (SEM) and mediation analysis were used to test the hypotheses.Results:Self-esteem negatively predicted quality of life (β=-0.16),working pressure (β=-0.17)and interpersonal relationship (β=-0.14).In the 95% level of confi-dence,the lower range output of Bootstrapping in the path model of self-esteem through self-handicapping,defen-sive pessimism to a fear of success respectively was -0.29 and -0.14.The upper range output of those respec-tively was -0.14 and -0.01.Conclusion:Academic self-handicapping and defensive pessimism may play a medi-ating role in the relationship between self-esteem and fear of success.