The Stability of Self-Concept between Elementary and Junior High School in Catholic School Children

Abstract

Researchers have found that self-concept in students fluctuates during times of change, such as the physical transition between elementary school and junior high. Since Catholic school students typically do not have the physical transition or social network changes in junior high, it was hypothesized that their self-concepts would not fluctuate. One hundred ninety-five ethnically diverse Catholic school students rated how they think and feel about their general, self-image, academic, and social self-concepts, as well as how important each item was to their self-concept. Students were initially in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade and subsequently in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade at the time of the longitudinal study. Overall, the results indicated that ratings of self-concept and the importance of the items remained stable between elementary and junior high school and for students of varying ethnicities. The results are compared to the findings from other studies. The lack of a physical transition and social network changes from elementary school to junior high may assist students from developing significantly lower self-concept in junior high, especially in academic and social self-concept. E ducational, developmental, and social psychologists have been interested in self-concept over the last 5 decades. Researchers have found that self-concept is relatively and possibly increasingly stable, but fluctuates during times of change, such as the transition between elementary and junior high school and between junior high and high school (Harter, 2006). Few studies have examined the importance students place on the self-concept domains and ethnic differences in self-concept amongst elementary or junior high students. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine if self-concept and the importance students place on domains of self-concept change in Catholic school children who do not have to make a physical transition to junior high and to examine if there are differences in self-concept as reported

Transition Between Primary and Secondary School: Why it is Important and How it can be Supported

“…The absence of this transition prevents students from developing lower self-concepts, especially in academic and social self-concept (Scott & Barona, 2011).…”

Internal and external resilience factors differences between elementary and high school students

“…Dôležitým faktorom vplývajúcim na dočasný pokles interných faktorov reziliencie je miera zmeny fyzického prostredia a s ním spojené javy. Ak fyzické prostredie a tým aj štruktúra triedy ostáva rovnaká, zmeny v interných faktoroch reziliencie a ďalších faktoroch self--konceptu sú oveľa menšie alebo žiadne (Scott & Santos de Barona, 2013). Naopak, ak dochádza k zmene fyzického prostredia, ktorá prináša aj zmenu sociálneho usporiadania, pokles v týchto faktoroch je detegovaný, a to dokonca aj pri iných vekových kategóriách.…”

Incidencia de los juegos cooperativos en el autoconcepto físico de escolares de educación primaria (Impact of cooperative games on physical self-concept in elementary school students)

“…Fecha de aceptación: 20-10-17 Ruben Navarro Paton ruben.navarro.paton@usc.es física y a partir de ellas, se desarrollen programas para la modificación del entorno de aprendizaje, ya que se han constatado los efectos positivos que la práctica de actividades físicas a través de la educación física escolar, tiene sobre el autoconcepto físico (Bruya, 1977), y en investigaciones más recientes (Moreno, Moreno & Cervelló, 2007), se pone de manifiesto que la intención de mantener la actividad física de un sujeto, se ve influenciada por la percepción de su autoconcepto físico. Por otro lado, estudios como los de Scott (2011) o Wilson, Siegle, Little y Reis (2014) analizan el papel que debe desempeñar el profesor para trabajar en las clases de educación física el autoconcepto, vinculándolo al ámbito motor (Beasley & Gran, 2013). En la misma línea, Tan (2013) destaca la importancia de la utilización de metodologías que fomenten la inclusión del alumno y que valoren sus capacidades de manera consciente.…”