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Contents
- Abstract
- Theoretical Models and Methodological Guidelines
- Developmental Perspectives
- The Present Study
- Method
- Participants
- Procedure
- Measures
- Academic self-concept
- Academic achievement
- Statistical Analyses
- Goodness of fit
- Correlated uniquenesses with longitudinal data
- Tests of invariance over different age cohorts
- Results
- Internal Consistency, Stability, and Cross-Lagged Correlations
- Total Sample Analyses
- CFA
- SEM
- Multiple Group Analyses: Comparisons Across Multiple-Age Cohorts
- Supplementary Analyses
- Discussion
- Appendix A
Figures and Tables
Abstract
This study tests theoretical and developmental models of the causal ordering between academic self-concept 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 skill-development and self-enhancement models would vary with age. Discussion centers on the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the results.
Over the past decades, academic self-concept has been extensively studied in relation to academic achievement (Marsh & Craven, 1997). Although there is support for a reciprocal relation between these variables (Marsh, Byrne, & Yeung, 1999), this relation has not been examined fully from a developmental perspective, especially with younger children. To test the developmental pattern in the causal ordering of these constructs, Marsh et al. (1999) recommended the use of multicohort-multioccasion designs (e.g., Marsh, Craven, & Debus, 1998) that combined the advantages of cross-sectional (multiple-age cohorts) and longitudinal (multiple occasions) research within the same study. The purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate developmental hypotheses about the causal ordering of academic self-concept and academic achievement among elementary school children through the use of a multicohort-multioccasion design. In the following section, we present (a) the theoretical models and methodological guidelines, (b) the developmental perspectives, and (c) the features of the present study.
Theoretical Models and Methodological Guidelines
The causal ordering of academic self-concept and academic achievement has been one of the most critical...