Relations between adolescents’ self-evaluations, time perspectives, motivation for school and their achievement in different countries and at different ages

The present study focused on the relations between the self-efficacy, social self-concept, time perspectives, school investment and academic achievement of students in four different European countries and in different adolescence periods. A total of 1623 students completed questionnaires. The relations between the concepts proved not to be specific to the Western or to the former Communist bloc countries studied. The expected general decline in investment and academic achievement over the adolescence period showed up in all four countries studied. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, this decline could not be explained by growing influences of either social self-concept or time perspectives regarding personal development on their investment. In fact, the effects of social self-concept were strongest for the youngest adolescence group. Students’ social self-concept was the best predictor for their investment, while self-efficacy proved to predict academic achievement best in all adolescence periods.RésuméLa présente étude est centrée sur les relations entre efficacité de soi, concept social de soi, perspectives futures, investissement scolaire et performance scolaire, pris à différentes périodes de l’adolescence et provenant de quatre pays européens différents. En tout, 1623 élèves ont rempli les questionnaires. Les relations entre les concepts se sont révélées n’être pas spécifiques à un type de pays, en l’occurrence un pays occidental ou un ex-pays de l’Est. La diminution escomptée en termes d’investissement et de performance au cours de l’adolescence se manifeste dans tous les pays. Du point de vue du développement personnel en lien avec l’investissement consenti, ce déclin n’a cependant pu être expliqué, comme nous nous y attendions, par les influences croissantes ni du concept social de soi ni des perspectives futures. Le concept social de soi joue même le rôle le plus important auprès des plus jeunes adolescents. Pour prédire leur investissement, cet aspect s’est révélé le meilleur indicateur tandis que l’efficacité de soi est le meilleur indicateur pour prédire la performance de toutes les périodes de l’adolescence.

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