Early Adolescents' Development of Academic Self‐Concept and Intrinsic Task Value: The Role of Contextual Feedback

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the extent to which achievement‐related feedback in two academic domains (mathematics and language) originating from two contexts (school and family) predicts early adolescents' domain‐specific academic self‐concept and intrinsic task values in Germany (N = 1,190, age range 10–13) and the United States (N = 1,953, age range 10–14). We examined the mediating role of both parents' competence perceptions and the early adolescents' academic self‐concepts linking grades and intrinsic value. Within‐ and cross‐domain effects were tested at each stage of the mediation. As predicted, in both countries the associations of grades with the academic self‐concepts are mediated by the parents' competence perceptions. The association of academic feedback with intrinsic task value is mediated through the students' academic self‐concepts.