Students' self-esteem and ability beliefs decline most sharply across the elementary-to-junior-high-school transition¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoretical r3 · q3
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? In a longitudinal study of about 3000 students measured twice yearly across the school transition, the strongest declines in self-esteem and ability/expectancy beliefs occurred between spring of the pre-transition year and fall of the post-transition year. → Jacquelynne S. Eccles · Allan Wigfield 2024

Evidence¶

Jacquelynne S. Eccles · Allan Wigfield 2024¶

Jacquelynne S. Eccles · Allan Wigfield. (2024). The Development, Testing, and Refinement of Eccles, Wigfield, and Colleagues' Situated Expectancy-Value Model of Achievement Performance and Choice. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09888-9

q3 · i? · theoretical · r3

Longitudinal within-classroom study (N = 3000) with four waves across the junior high transition, designed to separate within- and across-year change. The article reports the "strongest declines" occurred across the transition; self-esteem recovered somewhat in seventh grade while ability beliefs kept declining.

"As we had predicted, the strongest declines in students' self-esteem and beliefs about ability/expectancies for success occurred between spring of the pre-transition year to fall of the post-transition year (Wigfield et al., 1991)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Junior high math teachers were more controlling and less supportive than elementary teachers, and classrooms with the strongest such changes showed the largest declines in math motivation — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Prevalence of decreased intrinsic academic motivation is approximately twice as high in junior high as in elementary students — related