Organization of Children's Academic Ability-Related Self-Perceptions.

The authors examined how certain ability-related academic self-perceptions are organized in the self-systems of 5th graders. One hundred ninety children completed questionnaires concerning their perceived ability, expectancies for the near future, expectancies for the distant future, and causal attributions to ability. Each of these 4 self-perceptions was assessed separately for math, reading, and general school. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that children differentiated their ability-related self-perceptions in ways that are not accounted for by current models of academic self-concept. That is, in addition to differentiating the 3 domains of math, reading, and general school, children also differentiated the 4 self-perceptions within academic domains. These findings both support and extend current theories of academic self-concept.