Abstract
We aimed to (a) assess causal influences of three levels of self-concept on each other, (b) examine the relationship between each level of self-concept and academic achievement, and (c) compare the effect of self-concept on achievement with the effect of achievement on self-concept. In a two-year longitudinal study of 322 sixth and seventh grade students, influences over time between three levels of self-concept were weak. Zero-order correlations between self-concept and grades were positive and substantial, as in past studies. When using structural equation models, we found much weaker paths between self-concept and grades. Influences from self-concept to grades were very weak, but grades had a modest influence on subsequent discipline-specific self-concept. We conclude that past correlational studies have overstated the influence of self-concept on grades and of grades on self-concept.
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Financial support was supplied by the Life Cycle Institute, Catholic University.
Received Ph.D. from Harvard University. Research interests include self-concept, religious development, and moral development.
Received Ed.D. from Michigan State University. Research interests include self-concept and reading instruction.
Received B.A. from The Catholic University of America. Research interests include political socialization and social movements.
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Hoge, D.R., Smit, E.K. & Crist, J.T. Reciprocal effects of self-concept and academic achievement in sixth and seventh grade. J Youth Adolescence 24, 295–314 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537598
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537598