Articles are listed in descending order by year (most recent first), and then by first author's last name.
Arens, A. K., & Watermann, R. (2015). How an early transition to high-ability secondary schools affects students' academic self-concept: Contrast effects, assimilation effects, and differential ability. Learning and Individual Differences, 37, 64–71.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2014.11.007
This study examined the operation of contrast and assimilation effects, and the development of academic self-concept of students in the education system of the German federal state Berlin. One group of students experienced an early transition to high-ability secondary schools while the other group experienced the regular transition after sixth grade. The early transition was found to bear an assimilation effect on academic self-concept which was stronger than the contrast effect immediately after early transition but weaker at the end of the first school year after early transition. The early transition did not affect the normative stability of academic self-concept between two measurement points. Students with an early transition displayed higher levels of academic self-concept at both measurement points but a more substantial decline in academic self-concept than students experiencing regular transition. The findings are discussed in the context of the debate on tracking and acceleration practices in education systems.
Makel, M. C., Lee, S. Y., Olszewski-Kubilius, P., & Putallaz, M. (2012). Changing the pond, not the fish: Following high ability students across different educational environments. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, 778-792. doi:10.1037/a0027558.
Makel, M. C., Lee, S. Y., Olszewski-Kubilius, P., & Putallaz, M. (2012). Changing the pond, not the fish: Following high ability students across different educational environments. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, 778-792. doi:10.1037/a0027558. [Keywords: Program Model; Self-Concept]
Big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) research (e.g., Marsh & Parker, 1984) has found that perceptions of academic ability are generally positively related to individual ability and negatively related to classroom and school average ability. However, BFLPE research typically relies on environmental differences as a between-subjects factor. Unlike most previous BFLPE research, the current study used group average ability as a within-subject variable by measuring student self-concept before and after high ability students left their regular school environment to participate in a supplemental academic summer program. Results revealed that academic self-concept (ASC) and educational aspirations did not undergo significant declines when students were in the relatively higher ability environment. Even with ceiling effects limiting potential increases in ASC, participants were more than two times as likely to increase or maintain their ASC as they were to report declines in ASC. Further, several boosts were found in non-academic self-concepts. Such findings indicate that BFLPEs are not necessarily associated with supplemental educational environments.
Plucker, J., & Stocking, V. (2001). Looking outside and inside: Self-concept development of gifted adolescents. Exceptional Children, 67, 535-548.
Plucker, J., & Stocking, V. (2001). Looking outside and inside: Self-concept development of gifted adolescents. Exceptional Children, 67, 535-548. [Keywords: Self-Concept]
The internal/external frame of reference model (H. W. Marsh, 1986) was proposed to explain the development of academic self-concepts for general ability samples. Recent research calls into question the model's applicability for gifted adolescents' academic self-concept development. This model was examined for 131 adolescents (aged 12–16 yrs) participating in a summer program for academically talented students. Results suggest that the model is useful in understanding the academic self-concept development of students who are gifted, with no significant differences among students with demonstrable strengths in mathematics, verbal areas, or both areas. Educators should be aware that exceptional performance in one area, such as mathematics, will probably have a positive impact in mathematics self-concept but a negative impact on other academic self-concepts, such as verbal self-concept.
Stocking, V. B., & Plucker, J. A. (2001). Evaluation of the internal/external frame of reference model for gifted adolescents. In N. Colangelo & S.G. Assouline (Eds.), Talent development IV: Proceedings from the 1998 Henry B. and Jocelyn Wallace National Research Symposium on Talent Development (pp. 439-443). Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press, Inc.
Stocking, V. B., & Plucker, J. A. (2001). Evaluation of the internal/external frame of reference model for gifted adolescents. In N. Colangelo & S.G. Assouline (Eds.), Talent development IV: Proceedings from the 1998 Henry B. and Jocelyn Wallace National Research Symposium on Talent Development (pp. 439-443). Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press, Inc. [Keywords: Self-Concept]
Evaluated the appropriateness of the internal/external frame of reference model (I/E model) for understanding academically talented students through an examination of the internal component of the model. 131 rising eighth, ninth, and tenth graders enrolled in Duke University's Talent Identification Program Summer Residential Program completed the Self-Description Questionnaire II. The results confirm that the internal/external frame of reference model may be an appropriate framework with which to view the development of self-concept for gifted adolescents.
Marsh, H. W., Plucker, J. A., & Stocking, V. B. (2001). The Self-Description Questionnaire II and gifted students: Another look at Plucker, Taylor, Callahan, and Tomchin's (1997) "Mirror, mirror on the wall." Educational and Psychological Measurement, 61, 976-996.
Marsh, H. W., Plucker, J. A., & Stocking, V. B. (2001). The Self-Description Questionnaire II and gifted students: Another look at Plucker, Taylor, Callahan, and Tomchin's (1997) "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall."Educational and Psychological Measurement, 61, 976-996. [Keywords: Self-Concept]
J. A. Plucker, J. W. Taylor, C. M. Callahan, and E. M. Tomchin (1997) concluded that confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of responses to the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ) II provided only limited support for construct validity with gifted students because of the modest fit of their CFA models. They acknowledged, however, that potential complications (e.g., their CFA models, treatment of missing data, and highly non-normal data) meant that their conclusions may be premature. Here, the authors analyzed data from their original study of 374 students (aged 10-16 yrs) and new data from another gifted-student program (including 352 females and 465 males who served as Ss), exploring alternative approaches to missing data and data normalization. The a priori model based on the design of the SDQII resulted in a good fit to the data for the total group, and the factor solution was invariant across the two samples of gifted students. The results strongly support the construct validity of responses to the SDQII by gifted adolescents.
Brounstein, P.J., Holahan, W., & Dreyden, J. (1991). Change in self-concept and attributional styles among academically gifted adolescents. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 198-218.
Brounstein, P.J., Holahan, W., & Dreyden, J. (1991). Change in self-concept and attributional styles among academically gifted adolescents. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 198-218. [Keywords: Self-Concept; Program Evaluation]
A nonequivalent control group design involving academically gifted students who would participate in a residential summer program where they could achieve "consensual validation" by being with other gifted students (n=156), those eligible but who would not attend the program (n=172), and academically competent students (n=106), was used to identify differences in global self-concept, the structure of self-concept and attributional style, before, immediately after, and about four months after the intervention. There were no initial differences on any of the measures for the two gifted groups. However, competent students differed from gifted students on both self-concept and attributional measures. While global self-concept for gifted and competent students was similar, competent students boasted significantly greater self-concepts in the domains of social and physical activities and significantly lower self-concepts in the academic domain. On the attributional style measure, gifted students were significantly less likely than competent comparisons to take credit or see as pervasive the causes for social successes. In general, differences observed initially were robust over time. Only tentative support for the effectiveness of the short-term intervention being effective in modifying aspects of social self-concept among the gifted was obtained. Here, gifted program attenders decreased the extent to which they internalized blame for or perceived as pervasive the causes for social failure subsequent to program participation. The relationship of observed changes in attribution to self-concept and the effectiveness of short-term interventions to effect change in cognitive functioning and personality are discussed.
