Math self-concept in preschool children: Structure, achievement relations, and generalizability across gender

• Preschoolers separate between competence and affect facets of math self-concept.
• Early math achievement relates to math competence self-concept.
• Early math achievement is not related to math affect self-concept.
• No gender differences in self-concept–achievement relations.
• Similar mean levels in math competence and affect self-concepts for boys and girls.

This three-wave, longitudinal study explored the math self-concept of German preschool children (N = 420) with respect to its differentiation into competence and affect components, cross-sectional and longitudinal relations to early math achievement, and invariance across gender. Findings demonstrated that preschool children's math self-concept can be separated into competence and affect components, with the competence component displaying higher relations to early math achievement than the affect component. The competence component but not the affect component was found to be related to prior math achievement, providing evidence of the skill-development model of self-concept–achievement relations in preschool years. Boys and girls demonstrated similar self-concept–achievement relations and mean levels in the competence and affect components of math self-concept. Given so far little research on self-concept in preschool children, this study offers important insights and expands current knowledge.