A study of self-concept as it relates to academic achievement and gender in third grade students

The purpose of this study was to determine if a positive relationship exists between self-concept, academic achievement, and gender. The subject sample consisted of fifty-two students from a suburban public school district in southern New Jersey. Twenty-seven females and twenty-five males participated in the study. The Piers-Harris Children\u27s Self-Concept Scale was used to evaluate self-perception. Academic achievement was evaluated with the use of math and reading grades from the students\u27 report cards. The correlation coefficient results indicated that a significant relationship between self-concept and both reading (.291) and math (.307) achievement exists. Frequency polygons were used to display the distribution of each set of scores. Accordingly, a positive relationship exists between a students self-perception and academic achievement