Longitudinal Relations Between School Self-Concept and Academic Achievement

In self-concept research, there is a dearth of longitudinal studies which examine whether the structure of the two-factor self-concept consisting of competence and affect is stable across time. Using data collected among 608 (male = 294, females =313, 1 missing gender information). Chinese secondary students from 7th grade (M age = 13.41, SD = 1.35) to 9th grade, the study used confirmatory factor analyses to compare the internal structure of separating and conflating competence and affect of the general school selfconcept. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was then applied to examine longitudinal relations between competence, affect, and academic achievement. Consistently across the three time points, the two-factor self-concept structure was favored. However, SEM showed that the reciprocal effects were obtained only between competence and achievement from grade 7 to 8 but not from grade 8 to 9 and not between affect and achievement. Such inconsistency could be attributed to the transition from pre-puberty to adolescence. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. on behalf of Universidad de Pais Vasco.