Racial/Ethnic Variation in Academic Self-Concept Formation and Effects During Elementary and Middle School

• In Event: The Dynamics of Racial and Ethnic Inequalities in Schools and Neighborhoods

Abstract

Analyzing nationally representative panel data, we draw on prior theory and research on academic disidentification among African American students to frame a three-stage analysis of the interrelationships among students’ academic self-concept, achievement, and global self-esteem. The first stage involves estimating the magnitude of a variety of child-, family-, and school-level influences on children’s academic self-concept formation from third through eighth grade, paying particular attention to the magnitude of academic performance effects among students from historically high- and low-achieving racial/ethnic groups. Next, we estimate the effects of academic self-concept on subsequent achievement, and racial/ethnic variation therein. We test the disidentification hypothesis in the third and final stage, examining the influence of academic self-concept on students’ global self-esteem.

Authors

• Jacob Hibel, Purdue University

• Daphne M. Penn, Purdue University