Self-Concept Predicts Academic Achievement Across Levels of the Achievement Distribution: Domain Specificity for Math and Reading

• Main Authors: Chen, M. (Author), Davis-Kean, P.E (Author), Duckworth, K. (Author), Susperreguy, M.I (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Inc. 2018
• Subjects: academic achievement; academic success; Academic Success; adolescence; adolescent; Adolescent; article; child; Child; child care; Child Care; child development; Child Development; child parent relation; Child, Preschool; childhood; comprehension; Comprehension; female; Female; human; Humans; income; Income; infant; juvenile; Longitudinal Studies; longitudinal study; male; Male; mathematics; Mathematics; mental capacity; national health organization; panel study; Parents; physiology; preschool child; psychology; reading; Reading; regression analysis; self concept; Self Concept
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 This study examines whether self-concept of ability in math and reading predicts later math and reading attainment across different levels of achievement. Data from three large-scale longitudinal data sets, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development–Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, and Panel Study of Income Dynamics–Child Development Supplement, were used to answer this question by employing quantile regression analyses. After controlling for demographic variables, child characteristics, and early ability, the findings indicate that self-concept of ability in math and reading predicts later achievement in each respective domain across all quantile levels of achievement. These results were replicated across the three data sets representing different populations and provide robust evidence for the role of self-concept of ability in understanding achievement from early childhood to adolescence across the spectrum of performance (low to high). © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.