The Metacognitive Component of Academic Self-Concept: The Development of a Triarchic Self-Scale

Self-concept-more specifically academic self-concept-and its connection to academic achievement have long been studied. It has been widely accepted that one's self-concept is formed through interaction with one's environment and significant others. Here we suggest that an internal metacognitive component of self-concept is also critical to its development. This hypothesis is investigated here by the development of a metacognitive-academic self-concept scale as part of a larger battery based on Sternberg's triarchic model of successful intelligence. The academic self-concept scale's psychometric properties, with respect to both children and adults, and its correlations with a group-administered cognitive assessment are presented. Additionally, a series of Q-factor analyses of the results on the scale are provided, revealing multiple distinguishable academic self-concept profiles. Collectively, these data suggest that a self-concept scale regarding one's abilities can provide an additional source of information for the cognitive profiles of students.