Abstract:
There is surprisingly little sound research on the causal ordering of academic self-concept and academic achievement in longitudinal panel studies despite its theoretical and practical significance. Data collected in Grades 10, 11, 12 and one year after graduation from high school come from the large (N=1456 students) nationally representative Youth in Transition study. It was found that reported grade averages in Grade 11 and again in Grade 12 were each significantly affected by academic self-concept collected the prior year whereas prior reported grades had no effect on subsequent measures of academic self-concept. The results provide one of the few defensible demonstrations of prior academic self-concept influencing subsequent academic achievement and is apparently methodologically stronger than previous research.