Chinese Students' Self-Concept and Academic Performance: Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effects and the Role of Perceived School Status.

In some Western countries, it has been found that studying in schools of high-average ability has negative effects on one's self concept due to social comparisons with high-ability classmates. This has been metaphorically described as the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE). To explore this phenomenon, the perceived school status as a measure of the assimilation effect was examined among 10,366 secondary school students in Hong Kong. In the study, the BFLPE and the effect of perceived school status on self-concept and academic achievement were examined. Students were administered tests in mathematics, English, or Chinese and students' subject-specific academic achievement were examined. Information on students' prior self-concept at Grade 6 was also collected. Multilevel regression analyses showed that for students with initial similar ability, those studying in schools with high-average ability would subsequently have relatively lower self-concept. Those student in high-average schools would possibly have higher academic achievement in some academic subjects than those in schools with lower average ability, and students perceiving their own schools to be of higher status tended to have a more positive self-concept. The results are explained and discussed using social-cultural factors and the frame of reference model. (Contains 54 references.) (MKA)