title: Positive Illusions in the Academic Context: A Longitudinal Study of Academic Self-Enhancement in College.
abstract: In the present research, we examined academic self-enhancement in students (N = 264) followed longitudinally through 4 years of college. We used social comparison (i.e., better-than-average ratings) and self-insight (i.e., criterion-based) approaches to assess the degree to which students self-enhanced in their self-perceptions of academic ability, with SAT scores, high school grade point average (GPA), and college GPA used as criterion measures. We also examined ethnic variability in academic self-enhancement. We found that academic self-enhancement (a) increased or decreased over the 4 years of college, depending on its operationalization, (b) tended to be adaptive according to social comparison indices, and (c) demonstrated a trajectory that differed by ethnicity, but ethnicity did not moderate the effect of academic self-enhancement on outcomes. We discuss the implications of the findings for debates about the adaptive value of self-enhancement, the magnitude of cultural differences, and how best to conceptualize and operationalize the construct.
authors.affiliation: Tilburg University, The Netherlands j.m.h.chung@uvt.nl.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: University of California, Davis, USA.
authors.forename: Roberta A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Schriber
authors.affiliation: University of California, Davis, USA.
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Robins
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: academic achievement; ethnicity; longitudinal; self-enhancement; young adulthood