Jiesi Guo

Probing the Unique Contributions of Self-Concept, Task Values, and Their Interactions Using Multiple Value Facets and Multiple Academic Outcomes

Drawing on expectancy-value theory, the present study examined the unique contributions of the four major value beliefs and self-concept on achievement, self-reported effort, and teacher-rated behavioral engagement in mathematics. In particular, we examined the multiplicative effects of self-concept and task values on educational outcomes using the latent moderated structural equation approach. Participants were 1,868 German ninth-grade students. The data analyses relied on a higher-order structure of value beliefs, which is suited to parsing the differential patterns of predictive relations for different value beliefs. The findings revealed that (a) self-concept was more predictive of achievement, whereas value beliefs were more predictive of self-rated effort; (b) self-concept and value beliefs emerged as equally important predictors of teacher-reported engagement; (c) among the four value beliefs, achievement was more associated with low cost, whereas effort was more associated with attainment value; and (d) latent interactions between self-concept and value beliefs predicted the three outcomes synergistically.

Achievement, Motivation, and Educational Choices: A Longitudinal Study of Expectancy and Value Using a Multiplicative Perspective.

Drawing on the expectancy-value model, the present study explored individual and gender differences in university entry and selection of educational pathway (e.g., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] course selection). In particular, we examined the multiplicative effects of expectancy and task values on educational outcomes during the transition into early adulthood. Participants were from a nationally representative longitudinal sample of 15-year-old Australian youths (N = 10,370). The results suggest that (a) both math self-concept and intrinsic value interact in predicting advanced math course selection, matriculation results, entrance into university, and STEM fields of study; (b) prior reading achievement has negative effects on advanced math course selection and STEM fields through math motivational beliefs; and (c) gender differences in educational outcomes are mediated by gender differences in motivational beliefs and prior academic achievement, while the processes underlying choice of educational pathway were similar for males and females.

Directionality of the Associations of High School Expectancy-Value, Aspirations, and Attainment A Longitudinal Study

(This study examines the directionality of the associations among cognitive assets (IQ, academic achievement), motivational beliefs (academic self-concept, task values), and educational and occupational aspirations over time from late adolescence (Grade 10) into early adulthood (5 years post high school). Participants were from a nationally representative sample of U.S. boys N = 2,213). The results suggest that (a) self-concept and intrinsic value have reciprocal effects with academic achievement and predict educational attainment, (b) self-concept is consistently found to predict occupational aspirations, (c) the associations between achievement and aspirations are partially mediated by motivational beliefs, and (d) academic self-concept in high school had stronger long-term indirect effects on future occupational aspirations and educational attainment than task values and IQ.

Breaking the double-edged sword of effort/trying hard: Developmental equilibrium and longitudinal relations among effort, achievement, and academic self-concept.

Ever since the classic research of Nicholls (1976) and others, effort has been recognized as a double-edged sword: while it might enhance achievement, it undermines academic self-concept (ASC). However, there has not been a thorough evaluation of the longitudinal reciprocal effects of effort, ASC, and achievement, in the context of modern self-concept theory and statistical methodology. Nor have there been developmental equilibrium tests of whether these effects are consistent across the potentially volatile early-to-middle adolescence. Hence, focusing on mathematics, we evaluate reciprocal effects models (REMs) over the first 4 years of secondary school (grades 5-8), relating effort, achievement (test scores and school grades), ASC, and ASC × Effort interactions for a representative sample of 3,144 German students (Mage = 11.75 years at Wave 1). ASC, effort, and achievement were positively correlated at each wave, and there was a clear pattern of positive reciprocal positive effects among ASC, test scores, and school grades-each contributing to the other, after controlling for the prior effects of all others. There was an asymmetrical pattern of effects for effort that is consistent with the double-edged sword premise: prior school grades had positive effects on subsequent effort, but prior effort had nonsignificant or negative effects on subsequent grades and ASC. However, on the basis of a synergistic application of new theory and methodology, we predicted and found a significant ASC × Effort interaction, such that prior effort had more positive effects on subsequent ASC and school grades when prior ASC was high-thus providing a key to breaking the double-edged sword. (PsycINFO Database Record

What to do When Scalar Invariance Fails: The Extended Alignment Method for Multi-Group Factor Analysis Comparison of Latent Means Across Many Groups.

Abstract Scalar invariance is an unachievable ideal that in practice can only be approximated; often using potentially questionable approaches such as partial invariance based on a stepwise selection of parameter estimates with large modification indices. Study 1 demonstrates an extension of the power and flexibility of the alignment approach for comparing latent factor means in large-scale studies (30 OECD countries, 8 factors, 44 items, N = 249,840), for which scalar invariance is typically not supported in the traditional confirmatory factor analysis approach to measurement invariance (CFA-MI). Importantly, we introduce an alignment-within-CFA (AwC) approach, transforming alignment from a largely exploratory tool into a confirmatory tool, and enabling analyses that previously have not been possible with alignment (testing the invariance of uniquenesses and factor variances/covariances; multiple-group MIMIC models; contrasts on latent means) and structural equation models more generally. Specifically, it also allowed a comparison of gender differences in a 30-country MIMIC AwC (i.e., a SEM with gender as a covariate) and a 60-group AwC CFA (i.e., 30 countries × 2 genders) analysis. Study 2, a simulation study following up issues raised in Study 1, showed that latent means were more accurately estimated with alignment than with the scalar CFA-MI, and particularly with partial invariance scalar models based on the heavily criticized stepwise selection strategy. In summary, alignment augmented by AwC provides applied researchers from diverse disciplines considerable flexibility to address substantively important issues when the traditional CFA-MI scalar model does not fit the data.

Long-term positive effects of repeating a year in school: Six-year longitudinal study of self-beliefs, anxiety, social relations, school grades, and test scores

Consistently with a priori predictions, school retention (repeating a year in school) had largely positive effects for a diverse range of 10 outcomes (e.g., math self-concept, self-efficacy, anxiety, relations with teachers, parents and peers, school grades, and standardized achievement test scores). The design, based on a large, representative sample of German students (N = 1,325, M age = 11.75 years at Year 5) measured each year during the first 5 years of secondary school, was particularly strong. It featured 4 independent retention groups (different groups of students, each repeating 1 of the 4 first years of secondary school; total N = 103), with multiple posttest waves to evaluate short- and long-term effects, controlling for covariates (gender, age, socioeconomic status, primary school grades, IQ) and 1 or more sets of 10 outcomes collected prior to retention. Tests of developmental invariance demonstrated that the effects of retention (controlling for covariates and preretention outcomes) were highly consistent across this potentially volatile early to middle adolescent period; largely positive effects in the first year following retention were maintained in subsequent school years following retention. Particularly considering that these results are contrary to at least some of the accepted wisdom about school retention, the findings have important implications for educational researchers, policymakers, and parents.

An integrated model of academic self-concept development: Academic self-concept, grades, test scores, and tracking over 6 years.

Our newly proposed integrated academic self-concept model integrates 3 major theories of academic self-concept formation and developmental perspectives into a unified conceptual and methodological framework. Relations among math self-concept (MSC), school grades, test scores, and school-level contextual effects over 6 years, from the end of primary school through the first 5 years of secondary school (a representative sample of 3,370 German students, 42 secondary schools, 50% male, M age at grade 5 = 11.75) support the (1) internal/external frame of reference model: Math school grades had positive effects on MSC, but the effects of German grades were negative; (2) reciprocal effects (longitudinal panel) model: MSC was predictive of and predicted by math test scores and school grades; (3) big-fish-little-pond effect: The effects on MSC were negative for school-average achievement based on 4 indicators (primary school grades in math and German, school-track prior to the start of secondary school, math test scores in the first year of secondary school). Results for all 3 theoretical models were consistent across the 5 secondary school years: This supports the prediction of developmental equilibrium. This integration highlights the robustness of support over the potentially volatile early to middle adolescent period; the interconnectedness and complementarity of 3 ASC models; their counterbalancing strengths and weaknesses; and new theoretical, developmental, and substantive implications at their intersections.

The murky distinction between self-concept and self-efficacy: beware of lurking jingle-jangle fallacies

This study extends the classic constructive dialogue/debate between self-concept and self-efficacy researchers (Marsh, Roche, Pajares, & Miller, 1997) regarding the distinctions between these 2 constructs. The study is a substantive-methodological synergy, bringing together new substantive, theoretical, and statistical models and developing new tests of the classic jingle-jangle fallacy. We demonstrate that in a representative sample of 3,350 students from math classes in 43 German schools, generalized math self-efficacy and math outcome expectancies were indistinguishable from math self-concept, but were distinct from test-related and functional measures of self-efficacy. This is consistent with the jingle-jangle fallacies that are proposed. On the basis of pretest variables, we demonstrate negative frame-of-reference effects in social (big-fish-little-pond effect) and dimensional (internal/external frame-of-reference effect) comparisons for three self-concept-like constructs in each of the first 4 years of secondary school. In contrast, none of the frame-of-reference effects were significantly negative for either of the two self-efficacy-like constructs in any of the 4 years of testing. After controlling for pretest variables, each of the 3 self-concept-like constructs (math self-concept, outcome expectancy, and generalized math self-efficacy) in each of the 4 years of secondary school was more strongly related to posttest outcomes (school grades, test scores, future aspirations) than were the corresponding 2 self-efficacy-like factors. Extending discussion by Marsh et al. (1997), we clarify distinctions between self-efficacy and self-concept; the role of evaluation, worthiness, and outcome expectancy in self-efficacy measures; and complications in generalized and global measures of self-efficacy.

Effects of School-Average Achievement on Individual Self-Concept and Achievement: Unmasking Phantom Effects Masquerading as True Compositional Effects.

School-average achievement is often reported to have positive effects on individual achievement (peer spillover effect). However, it is well established that school-average achievement has negative effects on academic self-concept (big-fish-little-pond effect [BFLPE]) and that academic self-concept and achievement are positively correlated and mutually reinforcing (reciprocal effects model). We resolve this theoretical paradox based on a large, longitudinal sample (N = 14,985 U.S. children) and improved methodology. More appropriate multilevel modeling that controls for phantom effects (due to measurement error and preexisting differences) makes the BFLPE even more negative, but turns the peer spillover effect from positive to slightly below zero. Thus, attending a high-achieving school has negative effects on academic self-concept and a nonpositive effect on achievement. The results question previous studies and meta-analyses showing a positive peer spillover effect that do not control for phantom effects, along with previous policy and school selection decisions based on this research.

Cognitive Defusion Predicts More Approach and Less Avoidance Coping With Stress, Independent of Threat and Self‐Efficacy Appraisals

OBJECTIVE Recent evidence suggests that the way in which individuals relate to their aversive thoughts predicts behavioral effectiveness more than the content of such thoughts. This article is among the first to explore whether this is true for coping with stressful events. METHOD Three studies with emerging adults (Study 1, N = 202) and adults (Study 2, N = 201; Study 3, N = 141) tested whether changes in how individuals relate to their stress-related thoughts, measured using the individual-difference construct of cognitive defusion, predicted more approach and less avoidance coping behavior, controlling for stress-related appraisals. RESULTS We found that cognitive defusion predicted more approach coping (Studies 1 and 3) and less avoidance coping (Studies 2 and 3) following laboratory-induced stress (Study 1), naturally occurring monthly stress (Study 2), and daily stress (Study 3). These effects occurred independently of the effects of threat appraisals (Studies 1-3) and self-efficacy appraisals (Study 3) on coping responses. CONCLUSIONS Cognitive defusion may be an important individual-difference predictor of coping behavior, adding to established theories of coping such as Lazarus and Folkmans (1987) transactional theory.