Children’s Concepts of Ability, Effort, and Conduct

Abstract

Children’s self-perceptions of ability may reflect assessments of their effort and good conduct as well as academic performance. Determinants of ability judgments were assessed in 158 second and sixth graders by examining intercorrelations among self-ratings of ability, effort, and conduct and by exploring criteria used for these judgments. In general, ability was linked to effort and effort to conduct, but not ability to conduct, in either ratings or judgment criteria. Children generally used absolute standards in judging ability and did so almost exclusively in judging effort and conduct. The meaning and interrelationship of children’s ability, effort, and conduct self-perceptions did not differ substantially by grade or sex. The results suggest that children’s judgments of ability, effort, and conduct are interrelated but distinguishable. The pattern of results points to the importance of further attention to the impact of classroom context on children’s judgments of ability, effort, and conduct.