Abstract
Eight hundred 9-year-old children being studied by the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit were assessed in terms of academic self-concept, intelligence, and school performance. A short form of the Student's Perception of Ability Scale (SPAS) was used to estimate academic self-concept. Intelligence was assessed by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), reading by the Burt Word Reading Test, spelling by a short form of the Dunedin Spelling Test, comprehension and expression by the respective subscales in the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA), and school achievement by parents' perceptions of current attainment levels. The results indicate that the SPAS Short Form yields means, standard deviations, and internal reliability estimates that are consistent with other studies. In addition, sex differences were noted, with girls reporting slightly higher self-perceptions of ability than boys. In terms of correlations between academic self-concept and school-related ability and performance, it was found that SPAS subject-specific subscale scores correlated moderately with corresponding subject area performance, but weakly or negligibly with WISC-Rand ITPA Comprehension and Expression scores. Perceptions of ability, therefore, appear to be relatively independent of intelligence, and more related to success levels in school. It was also found that children identified as reading retarded had significantly lower self-perceptions of ability than normal readers. Similarly, depressed children indicated relatively negative self-concepts compared to past depressed and non-depressed children.