Hierarchical and multidimensional academic self-concept of commercial students

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.