Students' cognitive and motivational profiles have a large impact on their academic careers. The development of such profiles can partly be explained by the reciprocal intemal/extemal frame of reference model (RI/E model). The RI/E model predicts positive and negative longitudinal effects between academic self-concepts and achievements within and across 2 academic domains (i.e., the mathematics and verbal domains). In the present study, we replicated the RI/E model in 2 samples and extended it by simultaneously investigating the longitudinal associations of academic self-concepts and achievements in 3 academic domains (i.e., mathe matics, German as a native language, English as a foreign language). We examined 2 domains across 4 measurement occasions in 2 independent student samples who were in Grades 5-8 (Study 1: N = 1,529) or Grades 5-7 (Study 2: N = 639). In a 3rd study, we examined a subsample of the 2nd sample (N = 465) in 3 domains. Results demonstrated support for the RI/E model for 2 as well as 3 academic domains. We found positive reciprocal effects of academic self-concepts and achievements within a domain, positive reciprocal effects between achievements across domains, negative effects of achievements on subsequent cross-domain self-concepts, negative effects of academic self-concepts on subsequent cross-domain achievements, and some support for negative effects of academic self-concepts on subsequent cross-domain self-concepts. Further more, we found that RI/E model effects were of comparable size across time. To conclude, the RI/E model provides significant insights into the development of distinct motivational and cognitive profiles and, thus, of becoming either a math or verbal person. Implications for research and educational practice are discussed.

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Fostering social and academic self‐concepts are central educational goals. During mid‐adolescence academic engagement and success seem to be devalued by peers and to be negatively associated with students' social standing. For this age group, is the development of a positive academic self‐concept compatible with the development of a positive social self‐concept? We investigated relations among academic self‐concept, social self‐concept, and academic achievement. 1282 students (47.60% female) participated in three‐waves of measurement in Grade 5, 6, and 8. Earlier social self‐concept of acceptance negatively predicted changes in academic self‐concept over time while earlier social self‐concept of assertion positively predicted changes in academic self‐concept. There were no significant relations between social self‐concepts and achievement but positive reciprocal relations between academic self‐concept and achievement. Results indicate that fostering adolescents self‐concept in social and academic domains are compatible goals. However, some students need support in managing the challenge to coordinate social and academic goals.

Highlights  We examine academic self-concept (ASC) formation in the verbal and math domain  We focus on internal and external comparison effects in one unifying model  Individual achievement (ACH) is positively related to ASC within a domain  Individual ACH is negatively related to ASC across domains  Class-average ACH shows negative within-domain and positive cross-domain effects Abstract Given its eminent role in student learning and development, it is important to understand how academic self-concept (i.e., how one perceives oneself in an academic context) is formed. Both internal and external comparisons are considered crucial antecedents: Students form their academic self-concept to a considerable extent by (externally) comparing themselves with others and by (internally) comparing their own performance in different academic domains. Building on previous research in secondary education, the main goal of this study is to test a model integrating both comparison processes in elementary education using a large sample of Grade 4 students (N = 4,436) nested in 241 classes. Including the proposed internal and external reference effects in one integrated model, the study provided evidence for the presence of both comparison effects on two academic self-concept domains (i.e., math and verbal self-concept).Specifically, students' achievement in one domain was positively related to self-concept in that domain and negatively related to self-concept in the other domain. Additionally, class-average achievement was negatively related to academic self-concept within each domain and positively across domains. In conclusion, this study stresses the need for further integration of the major models on academic self-concept formation in a unifying theoretical framework. Key-words: academic self-concept; internal comparison; external comparison; elementary education; internal-external frame of reference model; big-fish-little-pond effect.

The study compares empirical results on the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (causing COVID-19) fatality risk perception of US adult residents stratified for age, gender, and race in mid-March 2020 (N 1 = 1,182) and mid-April 2020 (N 2 = 953). While the fatality risk perception has increased from March 2020 to April 2020, our findings suggest that many US adult residents severely underestimated their absolute and relative fatality risk (i.e., differentiated for subgroups defined by pre-existing medical conditions and age) at both time points compared to current epidemiological figures. These results are worrying because risk perception, as our study indicates, relates to actual or intended healthprotective behaviour that can reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission rates.