Investigating the influence of achievement on self-concept using an intra-class design and a comparison of the PASS and SDQ-1 self-concept tests
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Updated: Oct 31, 2026

Problem-Solving Before Instruction (PS-I): A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities
Published on: September 11, 2021
I Hay1, A Ashman, C E van Kraayenoord
1Faculty of Education, School of Cognition, Learning and Special Education, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. I.Hay@edn.qu.edu.au
Background:
The formation and measurement of self-concept were the foci of this research.
Aims:
The study aimed to investigate the influence of achievement on academic self-concept and to compare the Perception of Ability Scale for Students (PASS, Boersma & Chapman, 1992) with the Self-Description Questionnaire-1 (SDQ-1, Marsh, 1988).
Sample:
The participants were 479 grade 5 (mean age 126.6 months) coeducational Australian students, located in 18 schools.
Method:
An intra-class research design was used to investigate the influence of frame-of-reference on self-concept development.
Results:
As students' academic scores rose above their class mean their self-concepts increased and as students' academic scores fell below their class mean their self-concepts decreased. Students' difference from class mean predicted their self-concept scores. This finding was consistently shown across the reading, spelling, and mathematics domains using test and teaching rating data. A comparison between the PASS and the SDQ-1 demonstrated concurrent validity across self-concept domains.
Conclusion:
The findings support the notions that the social environment is a significant agent that influences self-concept, and that teacher ratings and standardised tests of achievement and the PASS and the SDQ-1 are valid measures for self-concept research.
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