Convergent and discriminant validity of various self-efficacy measures was examined across two studies. In Study 1, U.S. high school students (n=358) rated their self-efficacy in 6 school subjects with reference to specific problems or general self-efficacy statements on the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) (P. Pintrich and…

Students are often evaluated on the basis of their aggregate or average performance on diverse tasks in each school subject. When the target of prediction is such global measures as course grades, academic self-efficacy, too, should be able to reflect equivalent scope and generality to maximize its predictive utility. Academic self-efficacy in the…

The generality of academic self-efficacy judgments was examined among 588 high school students who rated their confidence for problem solving. A first-order model with a separate self-efficacy factor for each school subject displayed the best fit, so that verbal and quantitative self-efficacy were more meaningful than general academic…

The relative contribution of students' capability to perceive structural versus surface similarity on their motivation transfer was studied. It was hypothesized that surface similarity would lead to greater transfer of self-efficacy among tasks due to its readily perceptible nature. More specifically, it was hypothesized that the perception of…

Examined convergent and discriminant validity of various self-efficacy measures across two studies, one involving 358 U.S. high school students and another involving 235 Korean female high school students. Across the studies the first-order confirmatory factor analyses provide support for both convergent validity of different self-efficacy…

Whether students' verbal and mathematics self-concepts were indeed positively correlated after an external comparison, and negatively correlated after an internal comparison, as predicted by the internal/external frames of reference model (H. Marsh, 1986), was studied with 383 high school students. Results support most of the model predictions.…

Contextual perceptions, motivational beliefs, and achievements of 389 female high school students in Seoul, Korea were examined longitudinally during an academic year. Contextual perceptions and motivational beliefs were assessed within the contexts of general school learning and specific school subjects. Overall, personal motivation beliefs were…

Two of the most widely used academic self-efficacy assessment techniques, problem-referenced measurement and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) were compared. Participants were 383 high school students from 4 Los Angeles (California) schools. Multi-trait multi-method analyses revealed that the two techniques were not…

The degree of and the cognitive basis for the generalizability of academic self-efficacy were examined among 588 high school students from the greater Los Angeles (California) area. Students' self-efficacy perceptions clearly generalized beyond boundaries of specific tasks and also of specific school subjects, albeit to a lesser degree. There was…

Cross-domain relations of self-efficacy, task-value, and achievement goal orientations were examined among 424 Korean middle and high school students using confirmatory factor analysis. All motivational constructions demonstrated strong subject-specificity in both age groups. Strengths of between-domain associations differed substantially by…

Studied self-efficacy perceptions of 202 Korean female high school students at 3 levels of specificity in English and mathematics. Problem-specific, task-specific, and subject-specific self-efficacy beliefs all formed separate factors in both subject areas, but the three self-efficacy factors were too highly correlated to contribute independently…

The internal/external (I/E) frames of reference model proposed by H. Marsh (1986, 1990) points to the relativistic nature of academic self-concept formation. It argues that students compare their own academic ability to that of their peers in an external comparison, and they compare their own verbal skills to their mathematics skills in an…

Academic self-efficacy beliefs of 204 Korean high school freshmen were solicited in Korean, English, and math by using (a) specific problems, (b) task descriptions, and (c) general statements referring to each domain. Regardless of the assessment specificity, self-efficacy judgments demonstrated certain degrees of generality. Cross-domain…