Self-perceptions as mechanisms of achievement inequality: evidence across 70 countries
- Abstract Children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds tend to have more negative self-perceptions. More negative self-perceptions are often related to lower academic achievement. Linking these findings, we asked: Do children’s self-perceptions help explain socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement around the world? We addressed this question using data from the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, including n = 520,729 records of 15-year-old students from 70 countries. We studied five self-perceptions (self-perceived competency, self-efficacy, growth mindset, sense of belonging, and fear of failure) and assessed academic achievement in terms of reading achievement. As predicted, across countries, children’s self-perceptions jointly and separately partially mediated the association between socioeconomic status and reading achievement, explaining additional 11% (Δ R 2 = 0.105) of the variance in reading achievement. The positive mediation effect of self-perceived competency was more pronounced in countries with higher social mobility, indicating the importance of environments that “afford” the use of beneficial self-perceptions. While the results tentatively suggest self-perceptions, in general, to be an important lever to address inequality, interventions targeting self-perceived competency might be particularly effective in counteracting educational inequalities in countries with higher social mobility.
Author: | Sarah I. HoferORCiD, Jörg-Henrik HeineORCiD, Sahba BesharatiORCiD, Jason C. Yip, Frank ReinholdORCiD, Eddie BrummelmanORCiD |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:bsz:frei129-opus4-34364 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-023-00211-9 |
ISSN: | 2056-7936 |
Parent Title (English): | npj Science of Learning |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group UK |
Place of publication: | London |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first Publication: | 2024/01/11 |
Release Date: | 2025/03/31 |
GND Keyword: | - |
Volume: | 9 |
Issue: | 1 |
Open Access: | Frei zugänglich |
Licence (German): | ![]() |