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BACKGROUND: Although achievement-related self-perceptions are causally related to academic performance, it is not clear at what age this relationship starts to form, especially in terms of learning to read. AIMS: The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the emerging causal interplay between reading self-concept and beginning reading performance. SAMPLE: One hundred and twelve children who started school at the age of 5 years participated in the study over a two and a half-year period. METHOD: Path analyses were used to examine the relationships between reading-related skills and reading self-concept at the start of Year 1, the middle of Year 2, and the middle of Year 3. RESULTS: Reading performance emerged as causally predominant over reading self-concept between the middle of Year 2 and the middle of Year 3. CONCLUSIONS: Initial reading-related experiences in school are associated with the development of reading self-concepts within the first two and a half years of schooling. This period may mark the time during which negative 'Matthew effects' develop for those who experience initial difficulties in learning to read.
Chapman et al. (Mon,) studied this question.