University of Trier, Germany.
Department of Educational Sciences, University of Potsdam, Germany.
Br J Educ Psychol. 2018 Dec;88(4):513-528. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12198. Epub 2017 Nov 12.
Achievement in math and achievement in verbal school subjects are more strongly correlated than the respective academic self-concepts. The internal/external frame of reference model (I/E model; Marsh, 1986, Am. Educ. Res. J., 23, 129) explains this finding by social and dimensional comparison processes. We investigated a key assumption of the model that dimensional comparisons mainly depend on the difference in achievement between subjects. We compared correlations between subject-specific self-concepts of groups of elementary and secondary school students with or without achievement differences in the respective subjects.
The main goals were (1) to show that effects of dimensional comparisons depend to a large degree on the existence of achievement differences between subjects, (2) to demonstrate the generalizability of findings over different grade levels and self-concept scales, and (3) to test a rarely used correlation comparison approach (CCA) for the investigation of I/E model assumptions.
We analysed eight German elementary and secondary school student samples (grades 3-8) from three independent studies (Ns 326-878).
Correlations between math and German self-concepts of students with identical grades in the respective subjects were compared with the correlation of self-concepts of students having different grades using Fisher's Z test for independent samples.
In all samples, correlations between math self-concept and German self-concept were higher for students having identical grades than for students having different grades. Differences in median correlations had small effect sizes for elementary school students and moderate effect sizes for secondary school students.
Findings generalized over grades and indicated a developmental aspect in self-concept formation. The CCA complements investigations within I/E-research.
数学成绩和语文成绩的相关性比各自的学业自我概念更强。内部/外部参照框架模型（I/E 模型； Marsh，1986，美国教育研究杂志，23，129）通过社会和维度比较过程来解释这一发现。我们研究了该模型的一个关键假设，即维度比较主要取决于科目之间的成绩差异。我们比较了具有或不具有各自科目成绩差异的小学和中学生群体的特定科目自我概念之间的相关性。
主要目标是（1）表明维度比较的效果在很大程度上取决于科目之间是否存在成绩差异，（2）证明研究结果在不同年级和自我概念量表上具有普遍性，以及（3）检验用于研究 I/E 模型假设的很少使用的相关比较方法（CCA）。
我们分析了来自三个独立研究的 8 个德国小学和中学生样本（3-8 年级）（N326-878）。
使用 Fisher 的 Z 检验对独立样本比较了具有相同科目的学生的数学和德语自我概念之间的相关性与具有不同科目的学生的自我概念之间的相关性。
在所有样本中，具有相同科目的学生的数学自我概念与德语自我概念之间的相关性高于具有不同科目的学生。小学学生的中位数相关性差异具有小的效应量，而中学学生的中位数相关性差异具有中等的效应量。
研究结果在年级上具有普遍性，并表明自我概念形成具有发展方面。CCA 补充了 I/E 研究中的调查。
