Changes in children's self-competence and values: gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Children's self-beliefs about competence and task values are crucial for academic and personal development.
• Previous research indicates changes in these beliefs, but domain-specific trajectories require further documentation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To document domain-specific growth trajectories of self-competence and task values from grades 1 to 12.
• To examine the impact of competence beliefs on task values over time.
• To investigate gender differences in these beliefs and their developmental patterns.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of 761 children across grades 1-12.
• Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to analyze changes in self-perceptions.
• Examined domain-specific changes in mathematics, language arts, and sports.

Main Results:

• Self-perceptions of competence and task values generally declined with age across all domains, with varying rates.
• Significant gender differences in beliefs were domain-specific, not global, and did not consistently widen with age.
• Changes in competence beliefs explained much of the age-related decline in task values and most gender differences in task values.

Conclusions:

• Self-competence and task values decline throughout childhood and adolescence, with domain-specific patterns.
• Competence beliefs are a key factor influencing task values and gender disparities in academic and extracurricular domains.
• Findings challenge some socialization theories regarding the widening of gender gaps in beliefs over time.