The effect of self-appraisals of ability on academic performance

Longitudinal data on 1,718 high school males from the Youth in Transition Project (J. G. Bachman, 1970) were analyzed using structural equation models. Data, which were collected over a 3-yr period, included self-appraisals of academic ability and effort, reports of test anxiety, and scores on measures such as the Quick Test and the Vocabulary scale of the General Aptitude Test Battery. Results suggest that self-appraisals had moderate effects on later grades and that this effect in part reflected greater effort by Ss with positive self-appraisals. Although self-appraisals affected the degree of test anxiety experienced by the Ss, they did not appear to affect grades. There was some evidence that test anxiety interfered with performance on standardized tests. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).