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Self-perceived stability and change in children's competence

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Holper, Christiane [UCL] Roskam, Isabelle [UCL] Fontaine, Anne-Marie [University of Porto, Portugal]

Using Harter's (Child Dev 53(1):87-97, 1982) perceived competence scale, this study integrates several paradigms related to the issues of self-perceived competence, stability or change and attributional theory. It examines how 268 Belgian and Portuguese fifth graders consider their scholastic, social and physical competence at present and in a retrospective or prospective time perspective. The children were also asked to rate the causes of their self-perceived competence-related stability or change. Nearly all of the children who saw change indicated that they had changed/would change in a positive way. Children more often thought that they would change in the future than that they had changed in the past. Children who saw change also made more internal attributions (effort and ability) than children who saw only stability. Finally, the results varied consistently between the Belgian and the Portuguese samples, indicating cross-cultural differences which are tentatively illuminated by macro-systemic considerations referring to educational policy in the two countries.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès restreint
Publication date 2010
Language Anglais
Journal information "European Journal of Psychology of Education" - Vol. 25, no. 1, p. 1-17 (2010)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Springer (New York)
issn 0256-2928
e-issn 1878-5174
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - SSH/IPSY - Psychological Sciences Research Institute
Keywords Agency beliefs ; Children's self-perceived competence ; Cross-cultural comparisons ; Stability and change ; Time perspective
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Bibliographic reference Holper, Christiane ; Roskam, Isabelle ; Fontaine, Anne-Marie. Self-perceived stability and change in children's competence. In: European Journal of Psychology of Education, Vol. 25, no. 1, p. 1-17 (2010)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/34476