Academic Self-concept and Educational Attainment Level: A Ten-year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

The present study examined the effects of culture, age, and sex on three measures of handedness: writing hand, Annett's primary handedness items, and a measure based on hand preference for 11 activities. Using data from a large international study, the relationship between the culture in which participants learned to write (as defined by Hofstede's cultural dimensions) and adult handedness was examined. Participants who learned to write in formal cultures were less likely to be classified as left-handed than those who learned in less formal cultures. Older participants and those who learned to write in formal cultures were more likely to be classified as left-handed by the Annett and 11 item measures than by the writing hand classification. Across measures females were less likely to be classified as left-handed than males. Handedness for writing was found to be more sensitive to cultural influences than the other measures. These results suggest that some measures of handedness may be more sensitive to specific handedness aetiologies than others.

Universals and specifics in learning strategies: Explaining adolescent mathematics, science, and reading achievement across 34 countries

“…At the individual level, students often showed higher achievement if they had higher past achievement, were native born, spoke the national language at home, had higher SES families or had schoolmates with higher SES families, all consistent with past studies (e.g., Bradley & Corwyn, 2002;Collier, 1995;Fuligni, 1997;Pong, 1998). Students also typically showed higher achievement if they had greater self-efficacy, self concept, or locus of control (Chapman, 1988(Chapman, , 1997Chemers, Hu, & Garcia, 2001;Guay et al, 2004;Peetsma, Hascher, van der Veen, & Roede 2005;Robbins et al, 2004;Zimmerman, Bandura, & Martinez-Pons, 1992). Overall, girls tended to outperform boys in overall reading comprehension, whereas boys outperformed girls in mathematics and science (e.g., Halpern, 2000).…”

“…Specifically, academic self-efficacy, selfconcept, and locus of control refer to beliefs in one's capability to succeed academically, one's academic competence relative to one's counterparts, and one's sense of personal control over academic events, respectively (Findley & Cooper, 1983;Marsh, 1993;Valentine et al, 2004). Students with stronger academic self-efficacy, self-concept, and locus of control show more effort, persistence, and resilience on academic tasks, resulting in more learning and achievement (Guay, Larose, & Boivin, 2004;Robbins et al, 2004;Stipek & Weisz, 1981;Valentine et al, 2004).…”

Differential school contextual effects for math and English: Integrating the big-fish-little-pond effect and the internal/external frame of reference

“…Academic self-concept is a central area of interest to educational research, not only as an important outcome in itself, but also as an important predictor of other educational outcomes (Guay, Larose, & Boivin, 2004;Marsh, 1991Marsh, , 2007. It is now well established that self-concept and achievement are reciprocally related over time (Marsh, 2007) and that self-concept is associated with academic effort, anxiety, confidence, motivation, and persistence in education (Marsh, 2007;Stankov, Lee, Lou, & Hogan, in press).…”

Academic self-concept and achievement in Polish primary schools: cross-lagged modelling and gender-specific effects

“…motivation to learn (Guay et al 2010;, educational and occupational aspirations (Marsh 1991;Nagengast and Marsh 2012), coursework selection (Marsh and Yeung 1997), career intentions and choices (Guay et al 2004), psychological well-being (Craven and Marsh 2008), life satisfaction (Chang et al 2003) and mental health . Academic self-esteem is also closely tied to academic achievement (e.g.…”