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Girls’ lack of self-belief has frequently been cited as a major barrier to advancement in both empirical research and in the popular imagination. With girls now outcompeting boys at almost every educational level, this paper considers if girls still have lower self-concept than boys, if this changes when controlling for academic ability, and what mechanisms explain gender differences. We compare and contrast rational choice, contrast, and assimilation approaches to self-concept and juxtapose historical trajectories in gender differences in self-concept and achievement to distinguish between them. We do this in five age cohorts born between 1981 and 1993 (N = 66, 522) for math, literacy, and general academic domains. Results suggest that there are still significant differences in self-concept between equally able boys and girls and that a mix of assimilation and contrast mechanisms likely explains the size and direction of these effects.

Girls’ lack of self-belief has frequently been cited as a major barrier to advancement in both empirical research and in the popular imagination. With girls now outcompeting boys at almost every educational level, this paper considers if girls still have lower self-concept than boys, if this changes when controlling for academic ability, and what mechanisms explain gender differences. We compare and contrast rational choice, contrast, and assimilation approaches to self-concept and juxtapose historical trajectories in gender differences in self-concept and achievement to distinguish between them. We do this in five age cohorts born between 1981 and 1993 (N = 66, 522) for math, literacy, and general academic domains. Results suggest that there are still significant differences in self-concept between equally able boys and girls and that a mix of assimilation and contrast mechanisms likely explains the size and direction of these effects.

The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model posits paradoxical relations between achievement and self-concept in mathematics and verbal domains. There is strong support for the I/E model based on student self-ratings, however, reviews of self-concept research claim that the I/E model does not apply to ratings by parents and significant others. We aimed to test these claims using parent inferred self-concepts. In contrast to widely cited claims, we found support for I/E model for both students (N = 486; aged 11–17; 57.2% female) and their parents (80.5% female). Math and verbal achievement had positive effects on self-concepts in the matching domain (e.g., math achievement predicting math self-concept) but negative effects for self-concepts in the non-matching domain (e.g., math achievement predicting verbal self-concept). Integrating conflicting claims, we found support for dimensional comparison processes for inferred self-concept ratings by parents, but not for parent perceptions of student abilities similar to the measures used that were the basis of previous claims.

The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model posits paradoxical relations between achievement and self-concept in mathematics and verbal domains. There is strong support for the I/E model based on student self-ratings, however, reviews of self-concept research claim that the I/E model does not apply to ratings by parents and significant others. We aimed to test these claims using parent inferred self-concepts. In contrast to widely cited claims, we found support for I/E model for both students (N = 486; aged 11–17; 57.2% female) and their parents (80.5% female). Math and verbal achievement had positive effects on self-concepts in the matching domain (e.g., math achievement predicting math self-concept) but negative effects for self-concepts in the non-matching domain (e.g., math achievement predicting verbal self-concept). Integrating conflicting claims, we found support for dimensional comparison processes for inferred self-concept ratings by parents, but not for parent perceptions of student abilities similar to the measures used that were the basis of previous claims.