In plain language
Psychologists distinguish two kinds of academic self-belief that sound similar but may work very differently. Self-efficacy is your confidence that you can successfully do specific tasks (“I can solve this kind of equation”), while self-concept is your broader evaluation of yourself in a domain (“I am good at maths”). Surprisingly little research had directly compared how these two beliefs predict important real-world outcomes, especially over long stretches of development. This study asked: do math self-efficacy and math self-concept predict different long-term achievement outcomes?
The researchers used the Longitudinal Study of Australian Youth, which followed the 2003 Australian PISA cohort — 10,370 students, around age 15 at the start — over eight years. Using latent path modelling and controlling for a wide range of background factors (including prior achievement), they traced how each self-belief at age 15 related to end-of-school results, university entry, and choice of field of study.
Both beliefs mattered, but in different ways. Self-efficacy and self-concept were each independent and similarly strong predictors of tertiary entrance ranks at the end of high school. But math self-efficacy — not self-concept — predicted whether students actually entered university, whereas math self-concept — not self-efficacy — predicted whether students went on to study science, technology, engineering, or maths (STEM). The findings suggest the two constructs reflect genuinely different underlying processes, and that educators who want to boost both attainment and STEM participation need to cultivate both kinds of self-belief.
Key findings
- In a nationally representative cohort of 10,370 Australian 15-year-olds followed for eight years, math achievement, self-efficacy, and self-concept were strongly related at age 15.
- Math self-concept and math self-efficacy were independent and similarly strong predictors of tertiary entrance ranks at the end of high school, even after controlling for background covariates.
- Math self-efficacy significantly predicted university entry, but math self-concept did not.
- Math self-concept significantly predicted undertaking post-school study in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM), but math self-efficacy did not.
- The distinct predictive patterns support the view that self-efficacy and self-concept reflect different underlying psychological processes, and both are critical to understanding long-term achievement outcomes.
How to cite
APA
Parker, P. D., Marsh, H. W., Ciarrochi, J., Marshall, S., & Abduljabbar, A. S. (2014). Juxtaposing math self-efficacy and self-concept as predictors of long-term achievement outcomes. Educational Psychology, 34(1), 29–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2013.797339
BibTeX
@article{parker2014juxtaposing,
title = {Juxtaposing math self-efficacy and self-concept as predictors of long-term achievement outcomes},
author = {Parker, Philip David and Marsh, Herbert W. and Ciarrochi, Joseph and Marshall, Sarah and Abduljabbar, Adel Salah},
journal = {Educational Psychology},
year = {2014},
volume = {34},
number = {1},
pages = {29--48},
doi = {10.1080/01443410.2013.797339}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.