Extending the Reciprocal Effects Model of Math Self-Concept and Achievement : Long-Term Implications for End-of-High-School, Age-26 Outcomes, and Long-Term Expectations

The Reciprocal Effects Model (REM) posits that academic self-concept and corresponding achievement measures are reciprocally related over time. Although there is considerable support for the REM based on short-term, narrowly focused educational accomplishments, little research evaluates the long-term implications of this reciprocal pattern of relations. Using large-scale longitudinal data from the U.S. Educational Longitudinal Survey (16,197 high school year 10 students from 751 schools, followed up through age 26), we found support for the REM (based on math self-concept [MS]) and achievement collected in years 10 and 12), with and without control for covariates (gender, socioeconomic status, school-average socioeconomic status, and reading achievement). We then extend this basic REM model, demonstrating long-term implications of the REM based on total, direct, and indirect (mediated) effects of Year 10 MSC and achievement on: end-of-high-school outcomes (units in mathematics, and highest level of mathematics based on actual school transcripts); postsecondary outcomes at age 26 (educational attainment, completion of the STEM credential, math courses, and advance math units); and long-term expectations (educational, occupational, and STEM job). The total (direct + indirect) effects of year 10 MSC and achievement were statistically significant for all subsequent outcomes, but their influence on postsecondary and long-term expectations were largely mediated by intervening variables. However, consistent with REM logic, MSC effects were mediated in part via math achievement, and math achievement effects were mediated in part via MSC. Hence, the extended REM design provides an ideal basis for evaluating the long-term effects of MSC

Disentangling shape from level effects in person-centered analyses : An illustration based on university teachers' multidimensional profiles of effectiveness

This study compares alternative ways of disentangling the effects of level (the tendency for a person to be high, medium, or low across all factors) and shape (the tendency for a person to have a distinct pattern of factors on which they are high, medium, or low) in profile analyses. This issue is particularly relevant to performance appraisals where it is often useful to identify specific strengths and weaknesses over and above a person global performance, but also to person-centered analyses more generally where the observation of qualitative (shape) differences between profiles is often used as justification for the added value of profiles. Substantively, this study illustrates these issues in the identification of profiles of teachers based on multidimensional students’ ratings of their effectiveness, using an archival data set of 31,951 class-average ratings based on the Students’ Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument collected over a 13-year period. The results show the superiority of a factor mixture operationalization of teaching effectiveness in which a global effectiveness factor was used to control for unnecessary level effects in the profiles

Predictors and correlates of self-esteem in deaf athletes

The aims of this study were to examine the association between different aspects of self-esteem and level of sport competition and to assess the associations between self-esteem and age, length of participation in sport, and number of dramatic sport experiences in deaf athletes. One hundred and twelve congenitally deaf Japanese athletes completed the Self-Positiveness Scale (SPS) and the Inventory of Dramatic Experience for Sport (IDES). A correlational analysis demonstrated moderate to weak relationships between all of the SPS subscales except self-acceptance and public self-consciousness. One-way ANOVAs revealed that international athletes had fewer negative relationships with others and more dramatic sport experiences. Multiple regression analysis indicated that dramatic sport experiences significantly predicted self-acceptance, self-achievement, life satisfaction, negative relationships with others, and self-disclosure. Thus, dramatic sport experiences can enhance some aspects of self-esteem

Actual/ideal body images of high school girls and how it affects their self-esteem : implications for educational and clinical institutions

Given that adolescence is a critical period for the development of a positive self-concept and body image, it is imperative that educators have an understanding of adolescent students\u27 body image and their dieting practises and behaviours. Negative body image is an issue that is rife within the adolescent student population in Australia and around the world, and is a factor that is commonly associated with and linked to disturbed eating behaviours and chronic eating disorders like Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Despite the intuitive appeal and importance of investigating adolescents\u27 body image in terms of what adolescents would like to look like and what they think that they look like now, very little research has investigated these concepts. Furthermore, very little research has explored whether there is a difference between these two constructs how this may affect adolescents\u27 self-esteem. This study therefore aimed to explore the actual and ideal body images of adolescent high school girls aged between 12 and 18 years in two samples of adolescents, one with eating disorders (n=76, clinical sample) and one without (n=823 high school sample). Additionally, this study investigates these constructs in relation to self-esteem levels. The results of this study have important implications for educators and clinicians within educational and clinical settings.<br /

Educational and mental health implications of the multidimensional model of the self-concept for adolescent girls : comparison of clinical and non-clinical samples

The importance of a positive self-concept as an educational outcome and a facilitator of other desirable outcomes are well established within the education research field. Although the multidimensional and hierarchical model of the self-concept is widely accepted within the educational psychology, this perspective is not widely used within the mental health research. Hence, the purpose of the present investigation is to compare the psychometric properties of the short version of the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQII-S) based on responses by a large sample of female adolescent high school students (N= 829) and a clinical sample of adolescent girls who have been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (N= 75). The well-established psychometric properties of the longer version of the SDQII generalise well to both samples of adolescent girls, and analyses provided good support for the invariance of the factor structure across the two samples. Furthermore, analyses employing new structural equation modelling approaches to comparing the latent mean differences indicated that there were differences (although surprisingly small) between the two groups that were generally consistent with a priori predictions. The important educational and clinical implications of these results are discussed.<br /

Adolescent anorexia nervosa and self-concept [R]

Anorexia nervosa is an intriguing psychiatric disorder that is becoming a significant public health issue for adolescent girls around the world. Despite the proliferation of research and literature in the field, particularly concerning the aetiology, incidence and treatment for the disorder, little is understood about the aetiology of the disorder in the adolescent population. Researchers have suggested that low self-concept is one of many risk factors for eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa. Despite this, significant questions still remain about the relationship between self-concept and the severity and incidence of anorexia nervosa in adolescent girls in Australia. The pertinence of self-concept is undeniable due to its relevance to the personal and societal issues that exist in our society. This paper presents analyses of the multidimensional self-concepts of sixty-five adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa, and explores the relationships that exist between the distinct dimensions of the self-concept and eating disorder symptomotology.<br /