Antecedents of mathematics and literacy self-concepts of ability and achievement emotions in adolescence

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation was to investigate antecedents of adolescents’ self-concepts of ability and achievement emotions in two school subjects (mathematics and literacy). Study I examined cross-lagged longitudinal associations between self-concepts of ability and failure- and success-related causal attributions. Study II examined reciprocal developmental associations between self-concepts of ability and enjoyment, anxiety and boredom. Finally, Study III examined the role of teacher–student conflict and closeness and self-concepts of ability in achievement emotions and whether these associations are different depending on student temperament. Two longitudinal datasets were used for answering the research questions. In Study I, lower secondary school measurements (i.e., grades 7 and 9, N = 237) from the JEPS study were used. In studies II and III, the STAIRWAY dataset was used in which about 850 adolescents were followed during the transition from primary school to lower secondary school (i.e., grades 6 and 7). The results of Study I showed that self-concepts of ability predicted attributions, but not vice versa. Adolescents with higher math self-concepts of ability were subsequently using more self-serving attributions (i.e., attributions of successes to internal and failures to external factors). In both school subjects, adolescents with lower self-concepts of ability subsequently used more maladaptive attributions (i.e., attributed failures to lack of ability and successes to external factors). The results of Study II showed that in math self-concept of ability was reciprocally related to enjoyment and anxiety. Math self-concept of ability also predicted boredom but not vice versa. In literacy, no cross-lagged associations were found. Finally, the results of Study III showed that in both school subjects higher conflict in teacher–student relationship was related to lower enjoyment and higher boredom and anxiety and closer relationship was related to higher enjoyment and lower boredom. Adolescent temperament moderated some of the relations between teacher–student relationship quality, self-concept of ability and achievement emotions in literacy. Overall, the results suggest, first, that adolescents’ causal attributions related to math and literacy failures and successes are self-consistent. Second, the results suggest that, particularly in math, self-concept of ability and enjoyment of math can create a positive cycle, whereas self-concept of ability and math-related anxiety can lead to a negative cycle and higher self-concept of ability can also protect against boredom. Third, the results also highlight the role of teacher-student relationship quality and the role of student temperament in students’ achievement emotions.