Academic achievement and self-concept: An analysis of causal predominance in a developmental perspective.

Abstract

Causal relationships among academic achievement, self-concept of ability, and general self-esteem were examined for two cohorts of Norwegian school children. Measures of the three variables were collected when the students in the two cohorts were attending third and sixth grade and 18 months later. Four hypotheses were tested by a methodology developed in the frame of structural covariance models with latent variables by means of the LISREL VH program. Support for the assumptions of discriminability and factorial invariance of the concepts across time was obtained independently from estimating structural parameters. The results supported different causal relationships in the two cohorts, suggesting a recursive model at Grades 3 and 4 and a reciprocal model at Grades 6 and 7. The findings strengthened a further need for longitudinal studies examining relationships between academic achievement and self-concept in a developmental perspective. This research was supported by grants from the Norwegian Research Council to Einar M. Skaalvik.We would like to thank two of the anonymous reviewers for very constructive comments. We are also greatly indebted to Hans-

Is dyslexia necessarily associated with negative feelings of self‐worth? A review and implications for future research

“…However, as Burden (2005) discovered in his in-depth study of the learning careers of 50 dyslexic boys attending a specialist independent school, academic self-concept is not only open to change, but evidence of such change may be an important index of educational progress. This finding is in keeping with the conclusions drawn by Skaalvik and Hagvet (1990), as a result of their study of the relationship between academic self-concept and achievement in 600 Norwegian primary school children that ASC acts as a mediating variable between academic performance and global self-esteem, as well as having a causal influence on academic achievement.…”

Özel Eğitim Bölümü Öğrencilerinin Benlik Saygısı İle Mesleki Benlik Saygısının İncelenmesi

“…Düşük benlik saygısına sahip kişiler ise, sahip olduğu kapasitenin altında başarılar hedefleme eğilimindedir, reddedilmekten korkarlar, kendilerini sergilemek ve dikkat çekecek isler yapmaktan kaçınırlar (Skaalvik & Hagtvet, 1990). Düşük benlik saygısına sahip bireyler yeteneklerine çok az değer verirler ve sıklıkla başarılarını inkâr ederler.…”

The causal ordering of academic achievement and self-concept of ability during elementary school: A longitudinal study.

“…Because we were interested in the relations between the latent variables rather than in the measurement per se, in contrast to some other studies (see e.g., Skaalvik & Hagtvet, 1990), no factorial invariance between the measurement waves was assumed. That is, the magnitude of the loadings of the observed variables on the latent variables was allowed to vary between measurement waves.…”