Self-Concept of High School Students in China: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Longitudinal Data

Abstract

This study examined the factor structure of high school students’responses to the Verbal, Math, Academic, and General self-concept scales of the Self-Description Questionnaire-II (SDQ-II) administered in China at two time points. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that these students clearly distinguished the four scales. Math and Chinese self-concepts were positively correlated with Academic self-concept and with General self-concept. However, Math and Chinese self-concepts were negatively correlated with each other. The stability coefficients for each construct over time was high. The inclusion of Chinese and math achievement scores as well as teachers’ratings of general academic performance in CFA models further confirmed the validity of the multidimensional constructs by demonstrating a high correlation with each matching self-concept construct. All patterns of relations were replicated in a second collection of data 6 months later. The results support the multidimensionality and domain specificity of academic self-concepts found in Western countries.