Math and verbal academic self-concept: Subject-specificity across four distinctive groups of high ability adolescents

Academic self-concept has a pronounced role in high ability students' academic achievement. Current conceptions of self-concept are multidimensional, hierarchical, and influenced by internal valuations and external comparisons. This research utilized the NELS:88 dataset; the sample consisted of high ability students who had participated in their schools' gifted program in eighth-grade and in tenth-grade and were enrolled in advanced placement (AP) courses. This study examined subject-specificity of Marsh's (1986) Internal/External Frame of Reference Model across four groups of high ability students: a) AP math and AP English classes, b) AP math classes only, c) AP English classes only, and d) neither AP math nor AP English classes. Unexpected path findings suggest certain aspects of the I/E model are malleable depending upon group placement. Implications are discussed in the context of the larger social comparison literature.