Self-concept: The Application of a Frame of Reference Model to Explain Paradoxical Results

Academic abilities were substantially correlated with academic self-concept for Year 6 students (n = 305), but were uncorrelated with non-academic self-concepts. Schools for this study were specifically chosen to represent the highest and lowest strata of socioeconomic status (SES) within the same geographical area, and students from the high-SES schools were substantially higher in family SES, reading ability, IQ, and teacher ratings of academic ability. Nevertheless, students from the high-SES schools had paradoxically lower academic self-concepts after controlling for academic ability and/or family SES. Thus, academic self-concept is positively affected by individual ability and SES, but is negatively affected by school-average values of these same variables. These paradoxical findings are consistent with a frame of reference model which hypothesizes that students appraise their own academic ability, compare this with the observed abilities of other children in the school, and use this relativistic impression of their ability to form their academic self-concept. Thus, a given child will see him/herself to be relatively more able in a low-SES/ability school and will form a more favourable academic self-concept than if the same child is in a high-SES/ability school.