A longitudinal test of the internal/external frame of reference model

The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model by Marsh assumes two central information sources for the constitution of domain-specific academic self-concepts: (1) Serial comparisons (external frame of reference), in which students compare their own achievements with those of their classmates, and (2) intraindividual (dimensional) comparisons (internal frame of reference), in which students compare their own achievement in one subject with those in other subjects. Empirical support for this model is mainly provided by cross-sectional studies, which are not fully appropriate to investigate the influence of the frame of reference on changes in self-concept variables. Therefore, we analyzed data from a subsample of a German longitudinal study. Participants were n = 1754 7th graders. Analyses on the basis of structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling supported the validity of the I/E model with respect to changes in academic self-concept variables that are more or less independent of the academic environment.