Adapting the Marsh (1990) Academic Self-Description Questionnaire (ASDQ), t
his study examined the academic self-concept of students in a school of com
merce in Hong Kong (N = 212). Confirmatory factor analysis found that stude
nts clearly distinguished among self-concept constructs in English, Chinese
, Math and Statistics, Economics, and Principles of Accounting, and each of
these constructs was highly associated with a global Academic self-concept
construct, reflecting the validity of each construct in measuring an acade
mic component of self-concept. Domain-specific self-concepts were more high
ly related with students' intention of course selection in corresponding ar
eas than in nonmatching areas, further supporting the multidimensionality o
f the students' academic self-concept. Students' self-concepts in the five
curriculum domains can be represented by the global Academic self-concept,
supporting the hierarchical structure of students' academic self-concept in
an educational institution with a specific focus, such as commercial studi
es. The academic self-concepts of the commercial students are both multidim
ensional and hierarchical. (C) 1999 Academic Press.