The Internal/External Frame of Reference Model Revisited: Incorporating General Cognitive Ability and General Academic Self-Concept

Abstract

The internal/external frame of reference model (I/E model; Marsh, 1986) is a highly influential model of self-concept formation, which predicts that domain-specific abilities have positive effects on academic self-concepts in the corresponding domain and negative effects across domains. Investigations of the I/E model do not typically incorporate general cognitive ability or general academic self-concept. This article investigates alternative measurement models for domain-specific and domain-general cognitive abilities and academic self-concepts within an extended I/E model framework using representative data from 25,301 9th-grade students. Empirical support was found for the external validity of a new measurement model for academic self-concepts with respect to key student characteristics (gender, school satisfaction, educational aspirations, domain-specific interests, grades). Moreover, the basic predictions of the I/E model were confirmed, and the new extension of the traditional I/E model permitted meaningful relations to be drawn between domain-general cognitive ability and domain-general academic self-concept as well as between the domain-specific elements of the model.