Academic self-concept and academic achievement: Developmental perspectives on their causal ordering.

Abstract

This study tests theoretical and developmental models of the causal ordering between academic selfconcept and academic achievement in a multicohort-multioccasion design (i.e., 3 age cohorts, each with 3 measurement waves).Participants were students in Grades 2, 3, and 4 from 10 elementary schools.The structural equation model for the total sample supported a reciprocal-effects model, indicating that achievement has an effect on self-concept (skill-development model) and that academic self-concept has an effect on achievement (self-enhancement model).This pattern was replicated in tests of invariance across the 3 age cohorts and did not support the developmental hypothesis that skilldevelopment and self-enhancement models would vary with age.Discussion centers on the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the results.