ABSTRACT

Children undergo significant changes as they enter secondary school, a time during which their social and academic self-concept is fluid and the pressures to adjust and show positive attitudes and behaviours are intense. Utilising data from the MCS (Waves 4 and 5) the purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine longitudinal changes in academic self-concept, self-esteem and school attitudes in pre and mid adolescents through the lenses of gender and SES; and to trace the unique and cumulative effects of SES, gender and parenting on academic self-concept, self-esteem and school attitudes in 14- year-olds. The findings showed that academic self-concept, self-esteem and positive school attitudes decreased considerably between the ages of 11 and 14, and that girls rated themselves lower in self-esteem and school attitudes than did boys. The observed drop in academic self-concept was sharper in 14-year-olds from economically less well-off families. Parent behaviour and practices and the home learning environment contributed significantly to 14-year-olds’ school attitudes, self-esteem and self-concept. These findings have implications for developing school policies that support self-esteem especially during the first years of secondary education.

摘要

孩子们在进入中学时会发生重大变化，在这段时间里，他们的社会和学业自我概念是不稳定的，调整和表现出积极态度和行为的压力很大。利用 MCS 的数据（第 4 波和第 5 波），本研究的目的有两个：并追踪社会经济地位、性别和养育方式对 14 岁儿童的学业自我概念、自尊和学校态度的独特和累积影响。调查结果显示，在 11 至 14 岁之间，学业自我概念、自尊和积极的学校态度显着下降，而且女孩对自己的自尊和学校态度的评价低于男孩。观察到的学业自我概念下降在来自经济不富裕家庭的 14 岁儿童中更为明显。父母的行为和做法以及家庭学习环境对 14 岁孩子的学校态度、自尊和自我概念有重大影响。这些发现对制定支持自尊的学校政策具有重要意义，尤其是在中学教育的第一年。