F. Guay et al., Social comparison processes and academic achievement: The dependence of the development of self-evaluations on friends' performance, J EDUC PSYC, 91(3), 1999, pp. 564-568
The purpose of this study was to examine the role of social comparison proc
esses in children's self-evaluations. Children's aptitudes to gauge their s
elf-evaluations of their abilities in school activities (i.e., perceived ac
ademic competence) on the basis of their actual performance depended on how
well their reciprocated friends performed academically. Self-evaluations o
f performance were not affected when the comparison was based on levels of
nonreciprocated friends' achievement.