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The formation of academic self-concept and interest in primary school: Examining the generalized internal/external frame of reference model with first- and third-grade children.

The formation of academic self-concept and interest in primary school: Examining the generalized internal/external frame of reference model with first- and third-grade children.

Authors :
van der Westhuizen, Lindie
Arens, A. Katrin
Keller, Ulrich
Greiff, Samuel
Fischbach, Antoine
Niepel, Christoph
Source :
Contemporary Educational Psychology. Apr2023, Vol. 73, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

• Both first and third graders use social comparisons for self-concept and interest formation. • For first graders, dimensional comparisons do not yet play an eminent role. • In Grade 3, the relation between achievement and interest was mediated by self-concept. • In Grade 1, self-concept only mediated the relation between achievement and interest in matching domains. • Full invariance was found across cohorts and across boys and girls in both grades. The generalized internal/external frame-of-reference (GI/E) model explains the formation of self-perceptions and motivational constructs through social and dimensional comparisons. Research examining the GI/E model with primary school children is scarce, especially with first-grade children. Using two fully representative first-grade cohorts and two fully representative third-grade cohorts (N = 21,162; 48% girls) from Luxembourg, we examined the relations between math and verbal achievements and corresponding domain-specific academic self-concepts (ASCs) and interests. In addition, we tested whether the relations between domain-specific achievements and interests are cross-sectionally mediated through ASCs. Positive achievement-ASC and achievement-interest relations were found within matching domains in both grade levels, while the relations between achievements and ASCs and between achievements and interests across nonmatching domains were significantly negative for third-grade children. For first-grade children, the majority of cross-domain relations were nonsignificant, except for the path between math achievement and verbal interest. For school children in both grade levels, domain-specific ASCs were found to mediate the relation between achievements and interests. Overall, the findings indicate that social comparisons play an important role in the formation of domain-specific ASCs and interests for both grade levels, while dimensional comparisons are not as important in the first school year as it is later in the third grade. Gender and cohort invariance were established in both grade levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0361476X
Volume :
73
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Contemporary Educational Psychology
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
163795276
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2023.102167