The BFLPE is domain-specific: school-average achievement affects academic self-concept but not global self-esteem or non-academic self-concept¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2008 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Early BFLPE research found individual achievement positively and school-average achievement negatively related to ASC, but neither had much effect on global self-esteem or non-academic self-concept components. → Marsh 2008

Evidence¶

Marsh 2008¶

Marsh, H. W., Seaton, M., Trautwein, U., Lüdtke, O., Hau, K. T., O'Mara, A. J., & Craven, R. G. (2008). The Big-fish–little-pond-effect Stands Up to Critical Scrutiny: Implications for Theory, Methodology, and Future Research. Educ Psychol Rev. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-008-9075-6

q2 · i? · review · r2

Narrative review of early BFLPE studies (Marsh and Parker 1984; Marsh 1987). The review reports the effect was "highly domain specific," with achievement effects on ASC but little effect on global self-esteem or non-academic self-concept components.

"Early BFLPE research (Marsh and Parker 1984; Marsh 1987) demonstrated that support for the BFLPE was highly domain specific; whilst ASC was strongly influenced by individual student achievement (positively) and school-average achievement (negatively), neither individual nor school-average achievement had much effect on either global self-esteem or non-academic components of self-concept"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The negative contrast effect of high school-average achievement outweighs a weaker positive assimilation (reflected glory) effect — related
• The BFLPE generalizes across countries, cultures, settings, and long-term follow-ups — related
• Equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-average-ability schools (the BFLPE), with a cross-national effect size of 0.49 — related
• Reanalyses of SCT choice-paradigm studies support the BFLPE, which was not moderated by students' chosen comparison targets — related
• Class-average achievement and chosen upward comparisons each make substantial, unique negative contributions to math self-beliefs when modeled simultaneously — related
• Equally able students report lower academic self-concepts in high-achieving classrooms than in low-achieving classrooms (the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect) — related
• Schoolmates' achievement (big-fish-little-pond effect) relates only to academic self-concepts, not to labor market beliefs or disengagement — related
• BFLPE is stronger on the regular class level and strongest on the domain-specific math class level — related