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If one goes up the other must come down: Examining ipsative relationships between math and E nglish self‐concept trajectories across high school
Author(s) -
Parker Philip D.,
Marsh Herbert W.,
Morin Alexandre J. S.,
Seaton Marjorie,
Van Zanden Brooke
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/bjep.12050
Subject(s) - covariate , context (archaeology) , psychology , latent growth modeling , autoregressive model , counterfactual thinking , growth curve (statistics) , econometrics , statistical hypothesis testing , longitudinal data , statistics , developmental psychology , mathematics , social psychology , demography , paleontology , sociology , biology
Background The Internal‐External frame of reference ( IE ) model suggests that as self‐concept in one domain goes up (e.g., English) self‐concept in other domains (e.g., mathematics) should go down (ipsative self‐concept hypothesis). Aims To our knowledge this assumption has not been tested. Testing this effect also provides a context for illustrating different approaches to the study of growth with longitudinal data. Sample We use cohort sequential data from 2,781 of Year 7 to Year 11 Australian high school students followed across a total of 10 time waves 6 months apart. Method Three different approaches to testing the ipsative self‐concept hypothesis were used: Autoregressive cross‐lagged models, latent growth curve models, and autoregressive latent trajectory models ( ALT ); using achievement as a time varying covariate. Results Cross‐lagged and growth curve models provided little evidence of ipsative relationships between English and math self‐concept. However, ALT models suggested that a rise above trend in one self‐concept domain resulted in a decline from trend in self‐concept in another domain. Conclusion Implications for self‐concept theory, interventions, and statistical methods for the study of growth are discussed.