Achievers had significantly higher self-concepts than underachievers on the intellectual and school status subscale. Achievers had significantly higher internal locus of control scores than underachievers for the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire's total score and positive score. No sex differences were revealed. (Author)

As hypothesized, academic failure produced greater discrepancies between parental expectancy and children's achievement among high socioeconomic status (SES) children than among low SES children, and decreased self-regard among the former but not the latter. Furthermore, relatively low academic achievement was associated with weakened self-concept…

Test-retest item instability indices for low, middle, and high scores on the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale were calculated in order to test the hypothesis that low scores are invalid because of unreliability of responding. The hypothesis was not supported. (Author/JKS)