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Biomedical subjects

H W Marsh

Publications and source records attributed to H W Marsh.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Longitudinal multilevel models of the big-fish-little-pond effect on academic self-concept: counterbalancing contrast and reflected-glory effects in Hong Kong schools.

Longitudinal multilevel path models (7,997 students, 44 high schools, 4 years) evaluated effects of school-average achievement and perceived school status on academic self-concept in Hong Kong, which has a collectivist culture with a highly achievement-segregated high school system. Consistent with a priori predictions based on the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), higher school-average achievements led to lower academic self-concepts (contrast effect), whereas higher perceived school status had a counterbalancing positive effect on self-concept (reflected-glory, assimilation effect). The negative BFLPE is the net effect of counterbalancing influences, stronger negative contrast effects, and weaker positive assimilation effects so that controlling perceived school status led to purer--and even more negative--contrast effects. Attending a school where school-average achievement is high simultaneously resulted in a more demanding basis of comparison for one's own accomplishments (the stronger negative contrast effect) and a source of pride (the weaker positive assimilation effect).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Top-down, bottom-up, and horizontal models: the direction of causality in multidimensional, hierarchical self-concept models.

A new structural equation modeling approach to questions of the direction of causal flow between global and specific multidimensional measures of self-concept (SC) in two 2-wave, longitudinal studies demonstrated that (a) higher order factors were unable to explain relations among first-order factors at Time 1 (T1), at Time 2 (T2), or between T1 and T2; (b) T1 global SC had little effect on specific SC factors at T2 (a top-down model), but specific factors at T1 had even less effect on T2 global SC (a bottom-up model); and (c) many specific factors were more stable than global factors, but higher order factors were most stable. Results provide little support for top-down, bottom-up, or reciprocal models, instead arguing for a horizontal model in which each T2 SC factor is primarily a function of the matching T1 SC. This casts further doubt on the usefulness of hierarchical representations of SC.

Achievement↗
PubMed1998

Structure, stability, and development of young children's self-concepts: a multicohort-multioccasion study.

A new, individual administration procedure for assessing multiple dimensions of self-concept for young children 5-8 years of age (Marsh, Craven, & Debus) was the basis of this study. We expanded this application in a multicohort-multioccasion (MCMO) study that provides simultaneous multicohort comparisons (cross-sectional comparisons of different age cohorts) and longitudinal comparisons of the same children on multiple occasions. There was reasonable support for predictions that reliability, stability, factor structure, and the distinctiveness of the SDQ factors would improve with age (a between-group age cohort comparison) and from 1 year to the next (a longitudinal comparison), and that small gender differences were reasonably stable over age. Consistent with the proposal that children's self-perceptions become more realistic with age, Time 1 (T1) teacher ratings were more highly correlated with student self-ratings at T2 than T1 and contributed to the prediction of T2 self-concept beyond effects mediated by T1 self-concepts. The results support and expand the surprisingly good support for the multidimensionality of self-concept responses for very young children using this procedure.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1996

Positive and negative global self-esteem: a substantively meaningful distinction or artifactors?

Global self-esteem based on M. Rosenberg's (1965) scale is typically treated as a unidimensional scale. However, factor analyses suggest separate factors associated with positively and negatively worded items, and there is an ongoing debate about the substantive meaningfulness of this distinction. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate alternative 1- and 2-factor models and to test hypotheses about how the factors vary with reading ability and age. Responses based on the National Longitudinal Study of 1988 (S.J. Ingles et al., 1992) reflected a relatively unidimensional factor and method effects associated with negatively worded items. Such effects are common in rating scale responses, and this CFA approach may be useful in evaluating whether factors associated with positively and negatively worded items are substantively meaningful or artifactors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Predicting self-esteem from perceptions of actual and ideal ratings of body fatness: is there only one ideal "supermodel"?

Silhouette ratings of actual and ideal body fat (N = 258 high school students) were related to 4 self-concept scales (Body Fat, Physical Appearance, General Physical, Esteem) and objective body composition measures in order to test predictions from actual-ideal discrepancy models. Actual-ideal discrepancy scores were more strongly related to self-concept than actual scores alone, thus supporting the traditional discrepancy model. However, multiple regression analyses demonstrated that more sophisticated actual-ideal discrepancy models that considered discrepancies in either direction (feeling too fat or too thin) did significantly better. Because the traditional discrepancy model is a special case of this more general discrepancy model, the more general model should have broad applicability. Important aspects of this task were (a) that discrepancies were evaluated along a continuum in which the ideal was not one of the endpoints of the continuum, (b) that there was reasonable variation in ideal ratings, and (c) that positive and negative discrepancies were reported.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1996

Physical Self Description Questionnaire: stability and discriminant validity.

The Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) is a multidimensional, physical self-concept instrument designed to measure 11 scales: Strength, Body Fat, Activity, Endurance/Fitness, Sports Competence, Coordination, Health, Appearance, Flexibility, Global Physical Self-concept, and Global Esteem. High school students completed the PSDQ on four occasions over a 14-month period. Across the 11 PSDQ scales, the internal consistency at each occasion was good (median alpha = .92) and the stability over time varied from median r = .83 for a 3-month period to median r = .69 for the 14-month period. The data were used to demonstrate the application of confirmatory factor-analysis models of multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) data (with occasions as the multiple methods), which supported the discriminant validity of the PSDQ scales. Augmented MTMM models that included two field tests of cardiovascular endurance provided additional support for the construct validity of PSDQ responses and interpretation of the MTMM models. These results contribute to the growing body of support for the construct validity of physical-self-concept responses and illustrate the application of CFA MTMM models.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

The multidimensional structure of physical fitness: invariance over gender and age.

This investigation extends the factor analytic approach pioneered by Fleishman (1964) by incorporating subsequent developments in the application of confirmatory factor analysis and the physical fitness literature. Specifically, it tests the ability of an a priori factor structure of physical fitness to fit (i.e., account for) data based on 25 indicators of fitness (field exercises, technical measures, and laboratory measures) for 2,817 boys and girls aged 9, 12, and 15. An eight-factor (Cardiovascular Endurance, Explosive/Dynamic Strength, Static Strength, Flexibility/Joint Mobility, Blood Pressure, Lung Function, Body Girth, and Skinfold) model derived from previous research fit the data well for each of the six age/gender groups, considered separately. Based on tests of factorial invariance, factor loadings and factor correlations were reasonably invariant across the six groups. This important finding indicates that all 25 indicators are equally valid for boys and girls aged 9, 12, and 15 and that the multidimensional structure of physical fitness generalizes over gender and age.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Differentiated additive androgyny model: relations between masculinity, femininity, and multiple dimensions of self-concept.

Masculinity (M) and femininity (F) were related to multiple dimensions of self-concept in 2 large studies. Androgyny theory predicts that M and F contribute positively to self-concept, but the effect of F has been nil in research using global self measures. Here, consistent with the new differentiated additive model, the relative contribution of M and F varied substantially, depending on the area of self-concept; F contributed more positively to self-concept facets that were more stereotypically feminine. Support for the model was consistent across self-responses and responses by significant others (Study 1) and across 5 age groups in early-to-middle adolescence (Study 2).

Adolescent↗