The term self-handicapping refers to the mechanism of finding or creating unfavorable circumstances that lead to a reduced likelihood of good performance. In this way, the individual protects his perception of competence because in case of bad performance, the source of failure lies in external obstacles and not in himself. Previous research on self-handicapping in an academic context shows that it is, among other things, associated with lower academic achievement, mental and behavioral withdrawal from schoolwork, pessimistic perception of academic success and lower levels of self-esteem. Despite of increased research in the field of self-handicapping, the relationship between perception of self-competence and types of academic motivation and their contribution to student self-handicapping has not yet been explored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived competence, the types of motivation to study, and self-handicapping behaviors in an academic context. A total of 361 participants with a mean age of 22,8 years participated in the one-off correlation study. The results of the research did not reveal significant differences in self-handicapping between male and female students and students of different years of study. However, the predictive contribution of perceived incompetence, age, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in explaining self-handicapping behavior was confirmed. However, only perceived incompetence proved to be a significant positive predictor of self-handicapping. Finally, significant mediating effects of perceived incompetence on the relationship between two types of academic motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and self-handicapping were found.