The Role of Domain Similarity in the Longitudinal Interplay Among Achievement and Self-Concept

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine whether students’ subjective judgment of the similarity between two academic domains moderated cross-sectional and longitudinal between-domain effects of achievement on self-concept and vice versa. Based on the generalized reciprocal internal external frame of reference model and dimensional comparison theory, it was assumed that between-domain effects would decrease in magnitude with increasing levels of subjective domain similarity. A sample of 756 (T1, 43.5% female), 554 (T2, 44.2% female), and 474 (T3, 43.9% female) German speaking high-school students (mean age at T1 = 15.6 years) from eight REGIONS in COUNTRY reported on their academic self-concept in mathematics, German (native), French, and English on three consecutive school years. Students also reported on their subjective domain similarity between all six possible pairs of academic domains. Actual midyear grades were reported by school administrations. Results of structural equation models showed that the subjective domain similarity attenuated the effect of achievement in one domain on self-concepts in another domain (i.e., positive moderation of a negative main effect) in cross-sectional models. However, no longitudinal moderating effect of subjective domain similarity was found neither for the effect of achievement in one domain on self-concepts in another domain nor vice versa. These findings suggest that subjective domain similarity moderates the between-domain effect of self-concept on achievement in the short term only, which indicates that these moderating effects are not strong enough to buffer negative between-domain effects in the long term. Implications for educational research and practice are discussed.