Development of adolescents’ self-esteem and general academic self-concept: perceived classroom climate makes a difference

Abstract

We investigated rank-order continuity and mean-level change in adolescents’ self-esteem, academic self-concept, and social self-concept and tested whether interindividual differences in intraindividual change could be explained by four dimensions of classroom climate (i.e., teachers’ focus on students, learning community, pressure related to social or achievement issues, and rivalry and disruptions in class). The effects of classroom climate dimensions were investigated at the individual and classroom levels. The study comprised 2722 students from 98 classes who participated in four waves from grades 5 to 8. Rank-order continuities of self-esteem, academic self-concept, and social self-concept were substantial. Multilevel regressions revealed a significant nonlinear mean-level change in all constructs under investigation, indicating an initial decrease that became smaller over time. In self-esteem and social self-concept, the trend shifted from an initial decrease to an increase. Multilevel regressions revealed significant interindividual differences in the changes over time in all constructs. Change in academic self-concept was significantly predicted by all classroom climate dimensions on the individual level. Change in self-esteem was predicted by teachers’ focus on students and pressure related to social or achievement issues on the individual level. Change in social self-concept was not predicted by any classroom climate dimension.

Editorial: Youth personality development

“…The studies in the current special issue replicate and build on these earlier findings by mapping developmental patterns of temperament (Lawson et al, 2023), personality traits (de Moor et al, 2023; Li et al, 2023; Tetzner et al, 2023), and other conceptualizations of personality (self-esteem: Gonzalez Avilés et al, 2023; Scherrer et al, 2023; identity: Karataş et al, 2023; Timar-Anton et al, 2023; values: Bacchini et al, 2023; and prejudice: Bobba et al, 2023) across various cultural contexts. For example, the study by Avilés and colleagues examines average trends of self-esteem development among romantic late bloomers over a period of 10 years from adolescence till emerging adulthood (ages 16–26).…”

“…The subsequent three articles all demonstrate the role of the school context. The study by Scherrer et al (2023) documents that changes in self-esteem and academic self-concept (but not in social self-concept) were predicted by dimensions of classroom climate, underscoring the impact of the school context on adolescents’ self-perceptions. Bobba and colleagues (2023) examine antecedents of ethnic prejudice by considering educational identity, with results illustrating the importance of in-depth exploration for reducing ethnic prejudice and thus, for the adolescents’ way of feeling and thinking about a multicultural world.…”

“…Overall, this special issue offers novel insights on youth personality development. The results on developmental patterns, predictors and mechanisms, and life outcomes provide a nuanced understanding on how youth from diverse European (Gonzalez Avilés et al, 2023; Bacchini et al, 2023; Bobba et al, 2023; De Moor et al, 2023; Karataş et al, 2023; Laceulle et al, 2023; Scherrer et al, 2023; Tetzner et al, 2023; Timar-Anton et al, 2023), American (Lawson et al, 2023), and Asian (Li et al, 2023) cultural contexts, develop in adolescence and in the transition to emerging adulthood. Importantly, this set of articles pave the way for more research that adopts integrative perspectives to further enrich a developmental understanding of youth personality.…”

Stability and change in academic achievement goals: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.

“…Eccles and Roeser (2011) proposed that students' motivational development can be supported on several ecological levels (i.e., classrooms, schools, school districts, and communities). For example, smaller classes providing better accessibility to teachers, extracurricular activities fostering students' well-being (Eccles & Templeton, 2002; V. E. Lee & Smith, 1997), an appreciative classroom climate ensuring a cooperative learning community without rivalry and disruption (Avant et al, 2011;Rubie-Davies et al, 2016;Scherrer et al, 2023), and later school start times reducing the mismatch between students' circadian preferences and school attendance times (Randler et al, 2017;Scherrer et al, 2016;) could all make the educational process more enjoyable for students and ensure favorable motivational development.…”

Unequal selves in the classroom: Nature, origins, and consequences of socioeconomic disparities in children’s self-views.

“…Although conceptually distinct, they are positively correlated. The correlation of self-perceived ability with self-esteem is large (Scherrer et al, 2022). The correlations of self-perceived ability with growth mindset and narcissism are modest (Cho et al, 2021; Grijalva & Zhang, 2016).…”