Inconclusive Evidence for a Prospective Effect of Academic Self-Concept on Achievement: A Simulated Reanalysis and Comment on Marsh et al. (2024)

Abstract

Marsh et al. (Educational Psychology Review, 36(2), 53, 2024) recently reported associations between academic achievement and self-concept (i.e., self-perceived academic competence). Marsh et al. claimed that their analyses supported a reciprocal effects model, according to which academic achievement and self-concept reinforce one another. Marsh et al. (Educational Psychology Review, 36(2), 53, 2024) further recommended to test alternative models and juxtapose their results and interpretations. Here, we followed this recommendation and tested different models using data simulated to resemble the data they used. However, contrary to Marsh et al. (Educational Psychology Review, 36(2), 53, 2024), in the present analyses we found contradictory positive, negative, and null effects between within-individual math self-concept and subsequent change in within-individual math achievement and vice versa. This suggests that the findings by Marsh et al. (Educational Psychology Review, 36(2), 53, 2024) may have been spurious and that the reciprocal effects model can be challenged.