ERIC Number: EJ994024
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Nov
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: 137
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0663
Big Fish in Little Ponds Aspire More: Mediation and Cross-Cultural Generalizability of School-Average Ability Effects on Self-Concept and Career Aspirations in Science
Nagengast, Benjamin; Marsh, Herbert W.
Journal of Educational Psychology, v104 n4 p1033-1053 Nov 2012
Being schooled with other high-achieving peers has a detrimental influence on students' self-perceptions: School-average and class-average achievement have a negative effect on academic self-concept and career aspirations--the big-fish-little-pond effect. Individual achievement, on the other hand, predicts academic self-concept and career aspirations positively. Research from Western and developed countries implies that the negative contextual effect on career aspirations is mediated by academic self-concept. Using data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 (a total of 398,750 15-year-old students from 57 countries), we test the generalizability of this mediation model in science using a general multilevel structural equation modeling framework. Individual achievement was positively related to academic self-concept (52 countries) and career aspirations (42 countries). The positive effect on career aspirations was mediated by self-concept in 54 countries. The negative effects of school-average achievement on self-concept (50 countries) and career aspirations (31 countries) also generalized well. After controlling for self-concept at both the individual and the school level, there were significant indirect contextual effects in 34 countries--evidence for mediation of the contextual effect of school-average achievement on career intentions by academic self-concept. (Contains 4 tables and 5 figures.)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Self Concept, Developed Nations, Developing Nations, Context Effect, Structural Equation Models, High Achievement, Occupational Aspiration, Foreign Countries, Prediction, Generalization, Correlation, Secondary School Students, Student Attitudes, Science Careers, Career Choice, Science Education, Cross Cultural Studies
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Program for International Student Assessment